Elsa's POV
It was decided that Dad, Nat, Clint and I would go to Soul to rescue Dr. Cho while Mum, Tony and Cassy would go to NEXUS in Oslo. Furry had insisted that Loki stay with him so they could be our backup but I honestly believed that it was because Fury still didn't trust Loki, even after all these years.
Dad and I were standing on the roof of Dr. Cho's lab as Clint and Nat hovered above in the quinjet. The city was as busy as ever on the streets below us, not knowing the chaos that Ultron was about to unleash on them.
"Two minutes. Stay close," Dad said to Clint and Nat through our secure channel.
"Come on, let's get this over with. The less we need to see of Ultron, the better," I said to Dad as I twirled my staff in my hands.
"Couldn't have said it better myself," Dad said as we started to make out way into the lab.
The inside of the lab looked like a bomb had exploded in it. There was equipment lying in ruins all over the floor and years of research has been destroyed. In the corner of the room Dr. Cho was sitting against the wall and she looked like she had been wounded.
"Dr. Cho! Are you okay?" I asked her as I ran to her side.
"He's uploading himself into the body," Dr. Cho said to us, ignoring her injuries as she tried to stand up.
"Where?" Dad asked her.
"The real power is inside the cradle. The gem, its power is uncontrollable. You can't just blow it up. You have to get the cradle to Stark!" Dr. Cho pleaded; her voice filled with fear.
"First we have to find it," Dad told her, reluctant to leave the doctor alone with her injuries.
"Go," she told us, brushing off her wounds again.
"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" I asked her.
"I'll be fine. Now go stop Ultron before he destroys the world."
"Did you guys copy that?" Dad asked Nat and Clint over the comms.
"We did," Clint told him.
"I got a private jet taking off, across town, no manifest. That could be him," Nat informed us as we made our way out of the lab.
"Is Ultron already on the jet or is he still making his way over?" I asked, hoping we still had time to catch Ultron.
"There. It's a truck from the lab. Right above the both of you, Cap, Stargirl. On the loop by the bridge. It's them. I got three with the cradle, one in the cab. I could take the driver out," Clint told us, as I mounted my staff and kicked off the ground and flying as fast as I could to get to the truck.
"Negative! If that truck crashes, the gem could level the city. We need to draw Ultron out," Dad told Clint as he jumped on to the roof of the truck next to where I had just landed.
Ultron blasted the back door of the truck as Dad and I tried to get to the cradle, knocking me off the roof of the truck. But I managed to pull myself up on to my staff before I hit the road, starting the driver of the car I hovered over to regain my balance.
"He is defiantly not happy with us," I called out as I flipped my staff around so I was looking into the back of the truck again.
"He's no match for you Stargirl, now show him what the best of Asgard has to offer," Clint told me, making me smile.
"Thanks, Hawkeye. I promise you; I will make Asgard proud," I replied.
"You ready to keep him angry?" Dad smiled at me.
"Never been more ready in my life," I said, creating a blizzard behind me, ready to send it flying at Ultron at a moment's notice.
I watched as Ultron unplugged the cradle, determined not to let him get away I turned my blizzard into a single, deadly sharp icicle that I sent flying straight at Ultron chest. I would have sent the whole blizzard at him, but I was worried that I would hit the gem and cause it to level the city.
Noticing what I was doing, Ultron moved out of the way. But not fast enough as my icicle hit him in the arm, causing a large whole that was sparking from the exposed wires.
"How it that possible? Nothing can penetrate Vibranium," Ultron said, sounding shocked.
"Ice powers, curtesy of Asgard. There are still a lot of things you don't know or understand," I told him, giving Dad the time to get into position.
"And there are still a great many things you still need to learn, child," Ultron bated me as he sent a blast towards Dad, knocking him off the roof.
Once again, I managed to grab Dad off the ground, but this time I flew at the truck and dropped him in front of Ultron. Flipping upside down on my staff, I landed behind Ultron to make sure he couldn't escape either of us.
"You know what's in that Cradle? The power to make real change, and that terrifies you," Ultron gloated as Dad and I walked towards him.
"I wouldn't call it a comfort," Dad told him.
"It's not change that terrifies people. It those who force it," I said as I sent an energy blast at Ultron from my staff and knocking him off his feet.
With Ultron on the ground Dad ran towards him and knocked him back even further with his shield and closer to me.
As Ultron tried to regain his footing, I froze the top of the truck and freezing Ultron to the roof with it.
"Stop it!" Ultron screamed as Dad threw his shield at him, causing it to get stuck in his chest.
Determined not to lose the fight, Ultron ripped the shield out of his chest the threw it on to the road. After he knocked Dad off the truck again, Ultron grabbed hold of my staff and the second his metal hand touched my staff the glow disappeared from it.
"What did you do?" I demanded as he ripped my staff out of my hands and tossed it on the road.
"I... evolved," Ultron told me as he grabbed hold of me and threw me off the truck.
I groaned as I hit the road covering myself in grazes and cuts as I rolled. Somewhere along the way my masked fell off, but I honestly didn't care. Most people had figured out that I was Stargirl by now even though a public statement had never been made. I could see a group of tourists take photos of me as I pushed myself up off the ground slowly and made my way over to my cosmic staff. I thanked God, or more to the point Odin, that as soon as I picked up the staff it started to glow again.
"Elsa! Are you okay," Dad called out over the comms sounding extremely panicked.
"I'm fine. A little sore, but fine. Where are you? Are you still with Ultron?" I asked, trying to get my baring's.
Before Dad could answer, I saw Nat speed past me on her bike with Dad's shield propped up in front of her on the bikes handles. I quickly mounted my staff again and flew after her, guessing she was heading towards Dad and Ultron.
"I'm always picking up after you boys," she muttered, just loud enough for me to hear.
"I pretty sure if you read the fine print when you became an Avenger, picking up after the rest of the team was written in the contract," I laughed as I flew alongside of her.
"Yeah, you're probably right," Nat laughed as we made our way through the busy streets.
"They're heading under the overpass, I've got no shot," Clint told us.
"Which way?" Nat asked at as another group of tourists started to take photos of us.
"Great. Looks like we're going to be headlining the news again," I said as we waited for Clint to tell us which way to go.
"Hard right... Now," Clint told us as we banked to the right and the truck finally came back into view.
Nat passed the truck and tossed Dad his shield back while I flew back up to the roof and landed behind Ultron, sending an energy blast at him.
"You can't get rid of me that easily, Darth C3PO," I told him as he attempted to get back to his feet.
"I really have to stop you watching Star Wars so much," Dad said as he kicked Ultron in the chest.
"Yeah, not going to happen. The new movies are coming out soon," I told him, dogging Ultron's attack.
"I'm sorry, am I interrupting father/daughter time? Maybe I should help you off the truck so you can continue your conversation in private," Ultron sneered as he grabbed hold of Dad and tried to throw him off the truck again.
"I can multitask," I smiled as I created an icy mist around us, letting Dad regain his footing and hitting Ultron.
I could hear Nat and Clint talking over the comms but Ultron had somehow managed to interrupt the long-range comms. Which meant that I could only hear every other world they were saying.
But I didn't let that stop me from concentrating on the fight at hand. Dad and I continued our battle against the Darth C3PO and I was determined to stop him once and for all. I was not going to let Ultron ruin what was left of my holidays, not to mention destroying the world.
"I'm going in. Cap, Stargirl, can you keep him occupied?" Nat asked as she lined the bike up to jump into the back of the truck.
I could feel the truck lurch under my feet as one of Ultron's clones landed in the back of the truck. In the split second I wasn't paying attention, Ultron got the upper hand and threw me off the truck into the train that was running alongside it. Seconds after I crashed into one of the carriages, Dad came crashing in after me as he tackled Ultron.
"What do you think we've been doing?" Dad asked as we continued to fight Ultron.
The next thing I knew an invisible force knocked Ultron to the ground. It was only when I saw Wanda appear and pull-down part of the train blocking Ultron from moving, that I realised that it was Pietro that had knocked Ultron down.
"Please. Don't do this," Ultron asked her, almost sounding like a parent asking their child not to do something.
"What choice do we have?" Wanda asked him, her hands glowing red with her own type of magic.
Ultron almost seemed to sigh at her response like he was disappointed with her. It was one of the strangest interactions I had ever seen before, especially considering Ultron wasn't human. He gave Wanda one last glance before blasting the end of the train out and flying off.
"I lost him! He's headed your way!" Dad called out of the comms as he checked on the driver of the train who I hoped was only knocked out.
"Nat! Cap, Stargirl, you see Nat?" Clint asked, sounding extremely panicked.
"The last I saw her was when she jumped into the back of Ultron's truck. But you know Nat, I bet she's kicking one of Ultron's clones butt or something, " I told him as I tried to sound positive.
"If you have the package, get it to Stark! Go!" Dad said as we tried to see if the trains controls were still working.
"Civilians in our path," Dad said to no one in particular as we realise that the controls were completely out.
Without being asked, Pietro ran out of the train and started to move the civilians out of the way of the incoming train. But I knew I was going to do something soon to stop the train, otherwise a lot of people were going to die even if Pietro got everyone out of the way of the train.
"I can try to freeze the tracks to slow the train down, but I'm going to need help to stop it completely. Do you think you can do that," I asked Wanda even though I didn't trust her completely.
She nodded at me nervously, not looking me in the eye. I just hoped it was because she felt bad about the way she had acted before, not because she couldn't do it. But I didn't have the time to question her because we both needed to act fast. I kneeled down on to the ground and put my hands on the floor. Concentrating, I closed my eyes and created the coldest ice I had ever made and coated the tracks with it, making the train start to slow as it started to freeze to the tracks. I could feel the train start to strain against the ice, with the speed of the train fighting the frozen tracks as it tried to move forward. Then the train started to slow more and I knew it was because Wanda was helping me. Finally, the train stopped, making me breathe a sigh of relief. The second I moved my hands from the floor, the ice disappeared from the tracks.
Even though I felt light headed from how much energy I used to freeze the tracks, I tried to stand back up. I knew I had made the wrong decision as soon as my head started to spin, luckily Dad was at my side in a second to catch me before I hit the ground.
As I leaned into Dad's side, I saw that Pietro had come back and was standing next to Wanda. There was no denying I was still a little nervous around the girl, she had made me suffer one of the worst experiences of my life. Because of her I had to relive Cedric dying over and over again and I didn't even want to think about what the 'ghost' of Cedric had said to me. Those words were going to haunt me for the rest of my life, even though I knew it wasn't Cedric who had said them.
"I'm fine. I just need to take a minute," Pietro said to his sister, out of breath from what he just had to do.
"I'm very tempted not to give you one," Dad said to him as he continued to help me stand up.
"The Cradle, did you get it?" Wanda asked, still not being able to look me in the eye.
"Stark will take care of it," Dad told her.
"No, he won't," Wanda said, bitterly.
"You don't know what you're talking about, Stark's not crazy," Dad snapped at her.
"Besides, my Mum's with him and she won't let anything happen to it," I said coldly to her.
"He will do anything to make things right," Wanda told Dad, completely ignoring me.
"Stark, come in. Stark. Anyone on comms?" Dad asked, but no one replied, making me very nervous.
"Ultron can't tell the difference between saving the world and destroying it. Where do you think he gets that?"
Kimberly's POV
"Have Steve or Elsa contacted us yet?" I asked Clint, worried about my husband and daughter as we walked into Tony's lab.
"Not yet but I know that they are okay," he said, wrapping an arm around my shoulder.
"What about Nat?" I asked Bruce and Tony.
"Haven't heard. But she's alive, or Ultron would be rubbing our faces in it," Tony said as he tried to get in to the cradle that Clint had brought back.
I couldn't help but feel frustrated with Tony. He just didn't seem to care that members of my family hadn't checked in with us. But I kept quiet as I watched him work on the cradle with Clint and Bruce.
"This is sealed tight," Clint said, when they couldn't get it open.
"We're going to need to access the program, break it down from within," Bruce concluded.
"Hey, Clint. Is there a possibility that Nat could try to contact us another way? You know, the old-fashioned spy way that doesn't involve the internet?" I asked Clint, worried that she no one knew where she was.
"There's some nets I can cast. Yeah, alright. I'll find her," Clint said, giving me a hug as he walked out of the room.
"I can work on tissue degeneration," Bruce said as he swiped through multiply scans of the cradle on the tablet that was connected to it.
"That means all you have to do is fry the operational system that Helen installed," I told Tony as I looked at the read out from the cradle on my own tablet.
"Yeah, about that," Tony drawled, making both Bruce and I freeze.
"No," Bruce told Tony sternly as we both looked over at him.
"You have to trust me," Tony said, as a sinking feeling settled over me.
"Kinda don't," Bruce told him.
"Not after the whole Ultron thing," I added, crossing my arms over my chest.
"Oh my god, Dad. Just tell them," Cassy said as she walked into the lab.
"Our ally? The guy protecting the military's nuclear codes? I found him," Tony said as he brought up a 3D image of JARVIS.
"So that's why you wanted me to go talk to the head of the department back at NEXUS," I snapped at Tony, frustrated that he felt the need to go behind our backs.
"Hello, Dr. Banner and Dr. Rogers," JARVIS greeted us in his cheery tone.
"Ultron didn't go after JARVIS cause he was angry. He attacked him because he was scared of what he can do. So, JARVIS went underground. Okay? Scattered, dumped his memory. But not his protocols. He didn't even know he was in there, until I pieced him together," Tony said, trying to explain himself.
"So, you want me to help you put JARVIS into this thing?" Bruce asked him, completely shocked.
"No, of course not! I want to help you put JARVIS in this thing. We're out of my field here. You know bio-organics better than anyone," Tony said as Bruce shook his head.
"And you think that you can just wipe away all of Ultron's upload that is already in this...thing? Do you know the risk you are taking? One wrong miscalculation and it could mean the end of the world as we know it! I am not going to let you do this, Tony. Not again," I said getting angrier by the second and making the temperature drop drastically in the room.
"JARVIS has been beating him from inside without knowing it. This is the opportunity, we can create Ultron's perfect self, without the homicidal glitches he thinks are his winning personality. We have to," Tony tried to explain.
"Nope, not going to happen. There is no way you can say that it's going to work. We could end up with Ultron 2.0 and then what? You try again, only to make something worse? This is the safety of the world were talking about here! Not some computer program," I yelled at him as a layer of frost began to coat the lab
"I believe it's worth a go, Dr. Rogers," JARVIS said to me.
"No, I'm in a loop! I'm caught in a time loop, this is exactly where it all went wrong," Bruce muttered to himself.
"I know, I know. I know what everyone's going to say, but they're already saying it. We're mad scientists. We're monsters, buddy. You gotta own it. Make a stand. It's not a loop. It's the end of the line," Tony told him, making me laugh bitterly.
"Yeah, end of the line or end of the world?" I asked sarcastically.
"I've stopped listening to you, ice princess," Tony said as he started to work on something on his computer. "This framework is not compatible."
"The genetic coding towers at ninety-seven percent. You have got to upload that schematic in the next three minutes," Cassy said, making me realise that none of us had been paying attention to her which allowed her to help Tony complete his calculations.
"Don't you dare, Tony," I warned him as I started to ice my hands over, getting ready to freeze his computer if I needed to.
"I'm gonna say this once because it's pretty clear Kimberly has already told you," I heard Steve say, making me spin on my heel to see him along with Elsa and the Maximoff twins standing at the door to the lab.
"How about nonce?" Tony said sarcastically as he continued his work.
"Shut it down!" Steve demanded.
"Nope, not gonna happen," Cassy said, supporting her father.
"Cassy, you have to stop. You don't know what could happen," Elsa said as she walked closer to her friend.
"And you do? She's not in your head?" Cassy snapped at her, making Elsa flinch.
"Cassandra! I suggest you watch your tone. You saw what happened to Elsa. There is no need to bring that up," I told the girl as I walked over to hug my visibly upset daughter.
"I know you're angry," the Maximoff girl tried to reason, which probably wasn't her best move considering what she had made Bruce do as the Hulk.
"Oh, we're way past that. I could choke the life out of you and never change a shade," Bruce told her, never taking his eyes off her for a second
"Bruce, after everything that's happened...," I tried to reason with him as I continued to hold on to Elsa.
"That's nothing compared to what's coming!" Tony snapped
"You don't know what's in there!" Wanda said as she started to get frustrated that no one was listening to her.
"This isn't a game," Steve said in a voice that told everyone that this whole situation wasn't up for discussion.
"The creature...," Wanda began to stay, but stopped as her brother sped around the room, destroying all the lab equipment.
"No, no. Go on. You were saying?" Pietro smirked when he finally came to a stop.
Then everything seemed to happen at once. The floor beneath Pietro's feet disappeared as Clint shot an arrow through it to stop the boy. Wanda cried out to her brother as she tried to get to him but was grabbed by Bruce who stopped her from going to his aide. Then Elsa pulled away from my grip as the whole lab started to completely freeze over but this time it wasn't because of me.
"WILL EVERYONE JUST SHUT UP FOR ONE SECOND!" Elsa yelled as her comic staff glowed brighter than I had ever seen it and lifted her into the air.
Everyone stopped and looked at her where she hovered in the air, looking like she was glowing because of her staff. After she took a few deep breaths, the ice covering the room disappeared and she floated back down to the ground as the glow from her staff began to dim.
"Can't you see that this is exactly what Ultron wanted? He planned this! He planned on us turning on each other," Elsa said, becoming the only voice of reason. "We are fighting each other when we should be out of this stupid lab and fighting Ultron. As a team! We don't need whatever is in that cradle to stop Ultron. We only need each other, which is all we have ever needed."
Elsa's wise words echoed around the room as we all looked at her. But before any of us could say anything Thor came thundering into the room, followed by Loki. Lifting his hammer into the air, Thor sent a bolt of thunder into the cradle and powered it up. You could have heard a pin drop as we all watched the cradle open and a figure emerge from it.