Book 3: Chimera [Thor]

Chapter 8

"No," Tony answered. "It's probably not, right? This is very terrible. Is it so..." but he chuckled again, "Is it so...? It is. It's so terrible." The lack of concern in his tone had no one on his side.

The god pointed an accusing finger at the billionaire, "This could have been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand."

"Check for any bugs to prevent an incident on the way home," Anya added. "You promised, Tony."

They weren't supposed to dive so deep. Only perform an initial scan to secure intel on Strucker's use of the weapon. And make sure no damage came to it. Standing a bit straighter, the billionaire decided to confront the entire team from the fact that none of them saw the bigger picture.

"No," he said. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It is funny. It's a hoot that you don't get why we need this."

"Tony, maybe this might not be the time," Bruce muttered.

The comment earned him an incredulous look. "Really? That's it? You just roll over, show your belly every time somebody snarls?"

But the scientist wasn't backing down. "Only when I've created a murder bot."

"We didn't," his voice raised. "We weren't even close. Were we close to an interface?"

Bruce could only shrug. When they left the lab before the party there had been no successes. And honestly, they weren't expecting to find another. Not with the deadline so close.

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

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

"No, it's never come up," James answered sarcastically.

"Saved New York?"

"Never heard that."

"Recall that?" The billionaire began to paint them a picture. "The person who led the attack nearly killed one of us," and his arm swung out motioning towards Anya. "And a hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing three hundred feet below it. We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the livelong day, but that up there, that's... That's the endgame. How were you guys planning on beating it?"

"Together," Steve pointed out.

"We'll lose."

"Then we'll do that together too." A beat of silence passed between the two, stared each other down, before the Captain continued, "Thor's right. Ultron is calling us out. And I'd like to find him before he's ready for us. The world's a big place. Let's start making it smaller."

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The streets of Sokovia were quiet in the late hours of the night. The few people who did move about kept their heads down and jackets tightly closed against the harsh cold. Snow covered the roads, rundown buildings, and blown out homes from years of conflict. Even the remnants from the scuffle against HYDRA that rained down from the castle were visible. Some areas were still smoking.

The twins were the few to be out. They moved through the shadows towards a long forgotten bombed out church. The city officials surrounded it with a chain linked fence to keep people out, but it wasn't well guarded. An abandoned tank sat outside the perimeter. Multiple gaps littered the fence from others that trespassed for various reasons, either breaking locks or cutting out sections to slip in. Which is why it was so easy for the Enhancements to slip inside without the need for their gifts. In their hideout they received a notice that someone was in need of their services. For hours the two fought on whether to go or not to the rendezvous point. What if S.H.I.E.L.D. caught onto their movements? Or lower recruits from HYDRA were tasked with dragging them back to their latest base?