"No, it's not true." Natasha shook her head, the only one not stunned silent at the news of Alex's death.
Ultron smiled, "The news does not lie."
"Uh, yes it does. All the time." Tony said, but while his quip would usually be accompanied with a smile, there was only dead seriousness on his face.
"This news is not a lie. So—" Ultron was cut off by a loud alarm going off. A few seconds later, the alarm was cut off mid beep, being replaced with the start of a familiar song.
Is this the real life
Is this just fantasy
"What on earth?" Ultron stepped towards the door, hastily unlocking the multiple locks covering it. "What is this?"
Natasha nudged Steve, gesturing for him to listen. Sure enough, underneath the sounds of Ultron's soldiers running around and Ultron himself trying to unlock the door, there was someone saying something.
Open your eyes
Look up to the skies and see
The person got louder, loud enough that Tony and Clint had also noticed it.
"I'm just a poor boy! I need no sympathy." The voice sang along to the Queen song, almost as loud as the music blasting through the speakers itself.
Wanda, who had been curled up in a ball in the corner, untucked herself slightly.
Ultron caught this movement out of the corner of his eye and Natasha noticed how his shoulders hunched in fear. Despite his hatred for humans, he could have easily been mistaken for them just with the way he moved. The more bodies he inhabited, the less he resembled the android he was originally, something that Natasha already guessed could be his downfall.
Any way the wind blows
Doesn't really matter to me
There was only one lock in place, but the singer was right outside the door. Ultron knew this, and his surgeon-like hands shook for the first time.
Natasha smiled.
To me...
There would be time later to congratulate Alex on her song choice, despite how predictable Bohemian Rhapsody was for her. As the intro of the song ended, Ultron unlocked the door only to be immediately decapitated.
"Mama," sung Alex, "just killed a man!"
She dared to smile at Natasha before smoothly turning around and throwing a knife into the head of another Ultron running towards her,
"Put a knife into his head! Don't know if it works but let's hope he's dead."
<~~>
The plan had gone brilliantly, even if Alex had insisted on playing music as she distracted Ultron.
It had taken them a while to get to Ultron's base. The first time, Alex's hands were shaking too much; whether from fear or the three cups of coffee she had drunk, Pietro didn't know. They'd ended up three steps from where they'd originally been.
The second time, Alex's mind had been jumping about and when she finally managed to them both, they had managed to end up half in New York and half in Sokovia. It had been a fairly unpleasant feeling for both Pietro and Alex, the latter of which had at least experienced it before during her training and knew what to do.
It was third time lucky though as Alex successfully mangled to teleport them to Ultron's base in Slovenia, the location that Alex had somehow found.
Pietro had taken a few seconds to compose himself, still certain that Alex had left a part of him in New York, before running off to track down the Avengers' weapons.
The alarm went off, something not in their plan but Pietro had enough faith in Alex that he didn't turn back to check on her. A few seconds later, the speakers began playing a song and Pietro relaxed properly.
The door to the weapons room was locked but Pietro already knew what he had to do. Steeling himself, he turned to the side and rammed into the wall.
It broke easily and Pietro found himself facing a single Ultron sentry.
Pietro looked the sentry up and down and winked, "Wow, you make my floppy disk turn into a hard drive."
It blinked then charged at him.
<~~>
Pietro scowled farewell to the weapons room. He'd gotten everything he could, loading it into Alex's backpack, from guns to a pair of hearing aids to a stapler with 'property of James Rhodes' written on it.
It had taken him a few goes to balance himself with everything— Captain America's shield was particularly difficult to manage due to its size but he slid it onto his arm eventually and it fitted alright. One more check around the room and then Pietro ran off.
Soon enough, he found the room the Avengers were meant to be in and entered.
The Avengers were huddled together, a tangle of arms and legs underneath which Pietro could see flashes of Alex's purple suit.
Wanda was standing off to one side and Pietro didn't hesitate to drop Captain America's shield to run forward and hold her.
"You're here," Wanda whispered in his ear and Pietro pressed a kiss to her forehead. They were both crying, the tears on their cheeks mixing due to how closely pressed they were to each other.
"I'm never leaving you again, never."
"I needed you."
Pietro kissed the top of Wanda's head, forcing himself to think before he spoke. His eyes opened long enough to catch Alex looking at him and Wanda. She nodded her head to where the Avengers were sorting out their weapons. Pietro nodded back and kissed Wanda's head again, "I know, I'm sorry I took so long."
"Where were you?"
"It doesn't matter, I'm here now." He stepped back but didn't let go of Wanda's hands, "Alex, are you ready?"
"Yes."
Pietro ran a hand through his hair, "Stay safe," he said to Wanda and then said to Stark, "Put your buckle on."
"What?" Stark was cut off as Pietro hoisted him over his shoulders in a rough fireman's lift and ran out of the room.
He'd left a few holes in the walls already, bursting through them as he ran from the weapons room to where Wanda and the Avengers were being kept. Pietro ran through them easily, only catching himself a few times. Soon enough, he was out of already broken walls and had to prepare for pain again.
As he approached the wall, Pietro was very tempted to use Stark's head as a battering ram, but for once his rational side was appearing and he knew that—big as Stark's head was— his skull would still fracture at the force.
And then Alex wouldn't be too happy with him.
So Pietro turned on his side, bracing himself and adjusting Tony's body so he wouldn't feel a thing as the wall got closer and closer.
His shoulder hit the wall, the speed he was going at allowing him to tear through it like it was paper. It hurt badly, yet Pietro knew it would be worse now to stop.
He hit another wall, and another, and another. Everything was a blur and it was all Pietro could do to keep his hand on Tony's neck to keep it from breaking at the speed they were going.
One more wall and then they were outside.
Pietro slowed slightly to catch his breath and then ran off again. He and Alex had roughly worked out a location to get to, timing how long it took Pietro to run three miles and using that to work out his speed so they could make sure Pietro and Alex could roughly get to the same place at the same time.
Pietro could already see two people ahead, one of them disappearing when he got close. That was assumedly Alex and as Pietro skidded to a halt, he saw the other one was Thor.
Pietro dropped Stark, "Stay here."
"I don't listen to kids." Stark snarled but Pietro was already gone, a grin breaking out across his face— wild and carefree as he imagined how much easier it would be to get back.
They were winning, they were getting everyone to safety.
It was almost over.
<~~>
Alex let go of Natasha and Steve's hands. Clint and Wanda were missing from the group but far across the fields, Alex could see a blur travelling towards them.
"Slowpoke!" She shouted, knowing Pietro couldn't hear her, before snapping her fingers and teleporting to the room again.
It was empty.
"Shit." Clint was a strong fighter and Alex knew he wouldn't have left the room, not without leaving at least a few Ultrons dead if he'd been forcibly taken.
That meant Wanda was the one left.
Alex's eyes flickered closed, reaching out to Wanda's mind as Theundruk had taught her to do. It was easy to feel her in the crowd of mindless androids and Alex snapped her fingers, teleporting to where Wanda was.
Wanda was running as Alex appeared behind her. The teenager's eyes were wide and wild, her hands poised to attack the swarm of incoming Ultron's until Alex shouted,
"Hey!"
Wanda turned, the sadness on her face easing into relief, "I thought you wouldn't come for me."
Alex didn't respond. There were too many Ultrons now, surrounding her and Wanda. One of them, spurred on by Wanda being distracted, grabbed the teenager's shoulder.
Wanda screamed, eyes squeezing shut as she hunched over and Alex made an impulse decision,
"Wanda, think of Pietro."
Wanda made a noise of protest but Alex had already thrown Theundruk. The knife skimmed past Wanda's shoulder and, with a loud popping noise, teleported her away.
Alex felt something grab her hands. She twisted around, trying to shake whatever it was off so they wouldn't come with her when she teleported. The hands pulled her back and another arm wrapped around her stomach, trapping her.
"Theundruk? Theundruk, where are you?"
Alex felt her head being pulled back, forcing her to look at a small screen in the corner of the room that was playing what looked like the start of a film. A man was there, his face taking up the majority of the screen. After a brief pause, he began to speak in a thick Italian accent,
"The date is 31st of July, 2007. Subject is Ena Esposito, aged six years and seven months. Power is dimensional travel." The camera flipped around, showing a young girl crouched in the corner with an electric collar around her neck.
"Vaffanculo."