Disarm • Stark

15. Robots & Killers.

Peace in our time. 

That's what the robot wanted, apparently. Although, it didn't make any sense to Mazzy considering the fact that this robot was anything but peaceful. In fact, he was very openly violent when he sent two bots similar to him flying through the glass behind him and shooting toward the leftover occupants of the party. 

Before Mazzy could be hit by any of the debris, she was shoved to the ground by her father. Once they were on the ground, behind a pillar, Tony grabbed onto the sides of her face. "Hey, you ready to listen to me for once?" he asked her. 

With wide eyes and raised eyebrows, Mazzy nodded firmly. "Can't promise, though," she made sure to tell him. 

"You better promise. Just stay down, stay here, and stay out of the way," Tony told her sternly, but still with a hint of humor in his voice. 

"But what if here is in the way?" Mazzy asked him. 

"Just stay out of the way, Maz. Jeez. You ask a lot of questions," Tony replied. He then released her face and stood back up. 

Mazzy watched from behind the pillar as her dad and Rhodey went running for their suits, but before they could get more than a few steps away, they were stopped by being blasted in different directions. Rhodey went flying through some glass and Tony was shoved off to the side. Mazzy could still see Steve and Thor trying to hold off the bots as the lead robot in charge- Ultron, Mazzy had learned- summoned even more bots.  

It wasn't fair for them to just attack out of nowhere! Only two people there were at all powerful without their weapons or suits; Steve and Thor. Two people weren't enough to stop tons of different robots flying in from all different directions. 

Before Mazzy knew it, her dad was right back by her side. "Okay, change of plans. You're with me," he said, grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her up to her feet. 

Running through the room, Tony and Mazzy dodged a robot coming right in their direction after being thrown by Steve. Thor proceeded to smash his hammer right into the bot's head, destroying it. 

"Dad, these are yours! What the heck happened?!" Mazzy shouted up at her father. 

She didn't understand. He was supposed to be, like, the smartest guy ever or something, yet he and Bruce, with both of their brains' power, managed to accidentally create an artificial intelligence with no objective but to kill. Well, technically, Mazzy was pretty sure the objective was to create peace in their time, but the method was to kill. 

So, first of all, how had Tony and Bruce messed up so badly that this robot was this crazy? And, second of all, how had Tony messed up so badly that all of his Iron Legionnaire Bots, as he liked to call them, could so easily be controlled by something other than himself?

"I thought you were supposed to be smart!" Mazzy yelled over the crashing sounds around her. 

"Must've been Bruce," Tony replied smugly, despite the serious and intense situation they were in. 

As another robot started going after them, Tony let go of Mazzy's hand in order to grab a butter knife from the bar. Mazzy quickly pressed her back against the wall, watching as her dad jumped onto the back of the robot and stuck the knife into its neck. It didn't do anything, though, because he couldn't get the knife in far enough. 

"Push harder!" Mazzy called out to him. 

"What d'you think I'm doing?!" Tony replied, using all of his body weight to try and get the knife through the robot's neck. 

Mazzy pressed her lips together between her teeth, anxiety and panic stirring through her insides. She didn't like when her dad fought without his suit. He was pretty weak without it, if she had to be honest.