Solaris ⋯ Steve Rogers|Marvel Cinematic Universe

[chapter 67]

Steve was quick to kick the table in front of them as a shield. Evelyn crashed into him when an Iron Legion drone blasted the table. Not prepared for an attack, everyone scrambled away besides Steve, Thor and Evelyn. Evelyn saw Tony grab a fondue fork and run up the stairs as she jumped on one of the bots as it flew higher.

Without thinking how high they were, Evelyn forged a blade in her hand and cut the bot in half. Landing on broken pieces of glass, Evelyn groaned and rolled to her side. Getting on her feet, she saw there was only one bot standing, right in front of Dr. Cho. Steve beat her to it, using his shield to dismember it.

"That was dramatic!" Ultron came out of the shadows with its mangled body. "I'm sorry, I know you mean well. You just didn't think it through. You want to protect the world, but you don't want it to change. How is humanity saved if it's not allowed to...evolve?" Ultron picked up one of the dismembered Iron Legions and cracked the head. "With these? These puppets? There's only one path to peace: The Avengers' extinction." Thor threw his hammer at Ultron, smashing him into pieces. "I had strings, but now I'm free." Ultron started to sing as the eyes began to dim. "There are no strings on me, no strings on me."

"Lab." Steve spoke up keeping his eyes on the Iron Legion bot. "Ten minutes."

"Thanks." Evelyn mumbled as Natasha cleaned her bare back with a disinfectant wipe.

The two had decided to change out of their dresses and put on a pair of sweatpants and t-shirts. Evelyn found a pair of sneakers in the room she usually crashed in and put them on before joining the rest of the team in the lab.

"All our work is gone." Bruce stated as Tony looked at one of the destroyed bots. "Ultron cleared out, used the internet as an escape hatch."

"Ultron." Steve said shaking his head disapprovingly.

"He's been in everything." Natasha looked up from the tablet. "Files, surveillance. Probably knows more about us than we know about each other."

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

"Nuclear codes." Maria interpreted, taking out pieces of glass from her feet with a tweezer.

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

"Nukes?" Natasha frowned. "He said he wanted us dead."

"He didn't say dead." Steve shook his head. "He said extinct."

"He also said he killed somebody." Clint reminded them and Evelyn looked around the group to see if everyone was there.

"But there wasn't anyone else in the building." Maria frowned, having checked the footage.

"Yes there was." Tony sighed, bringing up the now destroyed 3D image of JARVIS' consciousness.

"This is insane." Bruce looked at it with wide eyes.

"JARVIS was the first line of defense." Steve looked down as Evelyn put a gentle hand on Tony's shoulder, knowing how much JARVIS had meant for him. "He would've shut Ultron down, it makes sense."

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

"Hey, hey!" Evelyn exclaimed as Thor suddenly grabbed hold of Tony by his throat and held him up.

"It's going around." Clint commented with a groan.

"Come on." Tony muttered, holding Thor's wrist. "Use your words, buddy."

"I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark." Thor spat out angrily.

"Thor!" Steve called out. "The Legionnaire."

"Trail went cold about a hundred miles out but it's headed north, and it has the scepter." Thor let go of Tony. "Now we have to retrieve it, again."

"The genie's out of that bottle." Natasha spoke as Evelyn groaned, thinking about the scepter. "Clear and present is Ultron."

"I don't understand. You built this program." Dr. Cho looked up from the bot with a frown. "Why is it trying to kill us?"

Toy started to laugh as Bruce shook his head at him, trying to get him to stop.

"Tony..." Evelyn warned him but he continued.

"You think this is funny?" Thor asked crossing his arms.

"No. It's probably not, right?" Tony chuckled looking at everyone. "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." Thor leaned back on a desk.

"No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Tony cut him off. "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 tried to reason but Tony cut him off as well.

"Really?!" Tony asked with a scoff. "That's it? You just roll over, show your belly, every time somebody snarls."

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

"We didn't. We weren't even close." Tony glanced at Evelyn. "Were we close to an interface?"

"Well, you did something right." Steve finally spoke up, walking closer. "And you did it right here. The Avengers were supposed to be different than SHIELD."

"Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?" Tony asked pointing up.

"No." Rhodey shrugged as Natasha rolled her eyes. "It's never come up."

"Saved New York?" Tony continued and Evelyn knew it was a touchy subject for him. "Recall that? A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing three hundred feet below it. We're the Avengers." He shrugged, looking at Steve. "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?"

"Together." Steve replied with determination.

"We'll lose." Tony stepped up towards Steve.

"Then we'll do that together, too." Steve held Tony's gaze until the latter turned away. "Thor's right. Ultron's calling us out. And I'd like to find him before he's ready for us." Steve looked at the whole team. "The world's a big place. Let's start making it smaller."