Black Star: The Legend Begins

εเ︎︎ģ𝔥𝐓︎𝓔︎𝓔︎𝓷

A hacker who's faster than Ultron? He could be anywhere, and as this is the center of everything, I'm just a guy looking for a needle in the world's biggest haystack," Tony tells the Nexus workers.

"How do you find it?" a pretty young woman asks.

"You bring a magnet," you reply.

Tony begins typing on the keyboard, then starts to sing. "Oh, I'm decrypting nuclear codes and you don't want me to." He hits a few more buttons, then smiles. "Come and get us!"

★★★★★

"Anything on Nat?" Bruce asks as you and Tony walk into the lab.

Clint and Steve returned from their mission with Dr. Cho's Cradle, but without Natasha. Based on what Clint and Steve had found out, Ultron used Loki's scepter to mind control Dr. Cho and force her to build a new body for him. They were able to get the Cradle out of Ultron's grasp, but he kidnapped Nat in the process.

"I haven't heard. But she's alive, or Ultron would be rubbing our faces in it," Tony answers bitterly.

"This is sealed tight," Clint reports, jumping off the Cradle.

"We're gonna need to access the program, break it down from within," Bruce says.

"Any chance Natasha might leave you a message outside the Internet? Old-school spy stuff?" Tony asks Clint.

"There are some nets I can cast. Yeah, I'll find her."

He leaves the lab. Steve is off doing who knows what, so it's you, Tony, Peter and Bruce.

"I can work on tissue degeneration if you and Lexi could fry whatever operational systems Cho implanted," Bruce says to Tony.

Tony is silent for a moment, scratching the back of his head thoughtfully. "Yeah, about that."

Bruce looks up from the Cradle, confused. After a few moments of silence, his eyes grow wide with realization. "No."

"You have to trust me."

"Kind of don't."

"Our ally, the guy protecting the military's nuclear codes, I found him." Tony taps his UI manager against the air, and a familiar hologram of an orange code ball appears.

"JARVIS?" you and Peter exclaim together.

"Ultron didn't go after JARVIS because he was angry. He attacked him because he was scared of what he can do. So JARVIS went underground. Scattered, dumped his memory. But not his protocols. He didn't even know he was in there until I pieced him together."

Bruce shakes his head. "So, you want me to help you put JARVIS into this thing?"

"No! Of course not!" Tony shouts, as if that's the most ridiculous thing he's ever heard. "I want to help you put JARVIS into this thing."

Bruce sighs, walking away from the Cradle.

"We're out of my field here. You know bio-organics better than anyone."

"And you just assume that JARVIS's operational matrix can beat Ultron's?" Bruce asks.

"JARVIS has been beating him from inside without knowing it. This is the opportunity."

"So, we could create Ultron's perfect self?" Peter asks.

"Just, you know, without the part where he wants to kill the human race?" you add.

"We can. We have to," Tony insists.

"I believe it's worth a go," JARVIS puts in.

"I'm in a loop!" Bruce shouts. "I'm caught in a time loop! This is exactly where it all went wrong!"

"I know, I know. I know what everyone's going to say. But they're already saying it." Tony puts his hand on Bruce's shoulder. "We're mad scientists. We're monsters, buddy. We've gotta own it. Make a stand."

Bruce shakes his head, walking away from Tony's grip. Tony doesn't give up, though.

"It's not a loop. It's the end of the line."

★★★★★

"This framework is not compatible," Tony states.

"What's the genetic coding tower at?" Bruce asks.

Peter checks Bruce's laptop. "97 percent."

"We have to upload the schematic within the next three minutes," you tell Tony, looking at a different laptop.

"I'm gonna say this once." Steve walks into the lab with the Maximoff twins, of all people, behind him.

"How about none-ce?" Tony cuts him off.

"Shut it down!" Steve orders.

"Nope, not gonna happen," Tony responds.

"You don't know what you're doing," Steve argues.

"And you do? She's not in your head?" You point at Wanda.

"I know you're angry," Wanda begins.

"Oh, we're way past that," Bruce tells her. "I could choke the life out of you and never change a shade."

"Banner, after everything that's happened-"

"It's nothing compared to what's coming!" Tony shouts.

"You don't know what's in there!" Wanda insists.

"This isn't a game!" Steve yells.

There's a silver and blue flash as Pietro runs around the lab. He stands next to Bruce as he yanks out the final cord.

"No, no. Go on. You were saying?" He throws the cord on the ground, and the machines begin to beep as they power down.

There's the sound of a gunshot, then glass breaking as Pietro falls through the floor.

"Pietro!" Wanda screams.

"What?" You hear Clint's voice drift up from the hole in the glass floor. "You didn't see that coming?"

"Uh, hey, guys?" Peter redirects everyone's attention to the screen he's standing next to. "This says 'power loss critical'!"

"I'm rerouting the upload," Tony decides.

Steve throws his shield at the Cradle. More glass breaks as one of Tony's Iron Man gloves zooms through the window onto his hand. He quickly fires at Steve, throwing him backwards. The rest of Tony's armor comes through the window, encasing him. Wanda's hands glow red as she prepares a power blow, only to have Bruce wrap his arms around her neck.

"Go ahead, piss me off," he dares.

Steve gets up off the floor and runs at Tony, but you jump and tackle him before he can. Wanda throws Bruce backwards with her powers, and Peter quickly webs her hands to the wall behind her. Suddenly, Thor runs into the lab. He jumps onto the Cradle, hoisting Mjolnir into the air as lightning gathers around it.

Bruce jumps to his feet. "Wait!"

But it's too late. Mjolnir is full of lightning, and Thor aims it down at the Cradle. You quickly avert your eyes from the brightness of the lightning as it charges up the android body inside. A moment later, the light, along with all sound in the room, dies out.