The Before [Prequel- Part 1]

The Cradle

"If I had to hazard I guess, I would say a witch, her brother, and a homicidal AI robot." The god answered, looking around cautiously.

That's when I saw one of the supposed dead bodies move in the back of the room. As I walked closer, I identified them.

"Dr. Cho!"

I ran over to her while Loki and Catherine checked to see if there were any other survivors.

~~~Catherine's pov~~~

I tried to check the scientists' pulses, but there weren't any to check.

I turned to Loki, and he shook his head. He couldn't find any survivors either.

They were all dead.

I shuddered. This is exactly what I was afraid of. More people dying because we couldn't handle a situation.

Steve walked over to us, a grim expression on his face. "Dr. Cho's alive, but she'll need medical support. Barton already called it in. Ultron took the cradle. And with that, the gem that was inside the scepter."

"It's not a gem," Loki interjected. "It's the mind stone. One of the six Infinity Stones. It has enough power to level the whole city."

I'm sorry, what?!

I turned to him quickly. "Are you serious?"

My question went unanswered as Steve put his hand to his radio where Nat and Clint were listening in. "Did you guys get that?"

I didn't hear the response, because I didn't have my comms on, but I assumed it was important as Steve rushed us out of there.

As we quickly exited the building, I looked over at Loki again, repeating my question. "Back there, about the Mind Stone, you were kidding, right? I mean, it can't possibly hold enough power to destroy all of Seoul." My voice came out more worried than I would have liked.

He shook his head solemnly. "But it won't come to that. We'll take care of it in time, before anything can set it off."

Not. Comforting.

"Alright, I can see a truck from the lab crossing that overpass. Ultron's in it with the cradle and three other bots. Catherine, can you teleport us to it?" Steve looked at me as we ran.

I nodded and grabbed both Loki and Steve's hands before teleporting us to the top of the truck, which depleted a lot of my energy.

"We need to draw out Ultron," Steve said loudly in order to be heard over the rushing wind as we stabilized ourselves atop the quickly moving transport truck.

As it turns out, we didn't have to. Seconds later, the evil AI in question shot his laser out of the back of the truck, making the vehicle shake violently.

"Yeah, I don't think that'll be a problem," I muttered, using my magic to make sure none of us fell off the top of the truck.

But the truck swerved unexpectedly and Steve fell off the roof of the truck and onto the windshield of the car behind us, thankfully not injured.

I sighed. There was nothing I could do for him. He was just going to have to sit this one out, I guess.

A loud clanging sound turned my attention to Ultron, who was now on top of the truck with me and Loki.

"This should be fun," I said quietly, getting my magic ready.

"Keep your guard up. Don't worry about me. Just protect yourself." I heard Loki's voice in my head.

Yeah, you read that right. I heard his voice in my head.

I had used telepathy before, but it was beyond freaky to hear someone else's voice in my head.