𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐃 ᵂᵃⁿᵈᵃ ᴹᵃˣⁱᵐᵒᶠᶠ ³

⁰⁵. ᵀʰᵉ ᴵᵐᵖᵒˢⁱⁿᵍ ᵂᵉⁱᵍʰᵗ ᵒᶠ ᴳᵘⁱˡᵗ

"Come on, use your words, buddy," Tony reasoned, nails digging into Thor's wrist.

"I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark." The calmness in his voice was a storm yet to rage on. The veracity in his eyes was channelled by a sense of resolve he wouldn't let break even with the anger boiling in his heart.

Steve stepped forward. "Thor. The Legionnaire."

With a snarl, Thor shoved Tony back and growled. "Trail went cold about 100 miles out, but it's headed north. And it has the Sceptre. Now we have to retrieve it, again."

"Genie's out of that bottle," Natasha spoke up. "Clear and present is Ultron."

Doctor Helen Cho hovered over the bot Ultron had taken control of. Now a lifeless piece of junk with no remnants of power by Carter's doing. "I don't understand." She looked at the group, eyes fixating on Tony's back. "You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?"

A long and steady silence filled the air, enough to strangle the life out of someone. Until Tony giggled. He giggled even when Bruce tried to silence him, not so subtly telling him to stop. But the longer Tony continued, the longer others' emotions began to mount.

"You think this is funny?" Thor questioned.

"No. It's probably not, right?" He asked, looking amongst the group. "This is very terrible. Is it so..." He couldn't contain his laugh. "It is so... It is. It's so terrible."

"This could have 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 defended, stepping to the god. 

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

But that only made the billionaire spin on his heel to look at the doctor. "Really? That's it? You just roll over, show your belly every time somebody snarls?"

"Only when I've created a murder bot," Bruce fired back. "Not only that, but put our friend in a damn coma."

"We didn't. We weren't even close. Were we close to an interface?" Tony asked, earning a nod and shrug from Bruce.

"Well, you did something right. And you did it right here," Steve pointed out. "The Avengers were supposed to be better than S.H.I.E.L.D."

Tony scoffed. "Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?"

"No, it's never came up," Rhodey replied sarcastically. "As well as the fact that you weren't alone doing so."

"Saved New York? Recall that?"

"Never heard that."

Despite his best friend's sarcastic responses, Tony continued. "A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing 300 feet below it."

It had been only a handful of years since the Chitauri attack. It'd been the moment the Avengers formed and the moment their lives had changed for better or for worse. Since then, there have been more superhuman and political threats to the world than ever before. From HYDRA and now Wanda and Pietro Maximoff. But the scary part is, those are just a few compared to the vast set of unknowns around the globe and onward.

"We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the livelong day, but that up there, that..." he said, looking around at the team, finger pointed upwards. "That's the endgame."

He shook his head, eyes snapping to Steve. "How were you guys plan on beating that?"

"Together," Steve answered resolutely.