"Worthy..." A creepy voice came from the hallway.
A broken down robot from the Iron Legion came hobbling out from the darkness. All of our attention turned to the bot. I stood up next to Thor, I could feel my power radiating to my hands, waiting to come forth in case I needed to attack. Thor instinctively stood a little in front of me.
"No, how could any of you be worthy? You're all killers." The robot hobbled forward towards us some more.
"Stark?" Steve said sternly. Stepping up next to Thor, also in front of me.
"Jarvis?" Tony called out for his AI.
"I'm sorry, I was asleep. Or I was in a-dream." The robot was a complete mess. It struggled to limp forward towards us as it's head looked around.
"Reboot Legionnaire OS. We got a buggy suit." Tony whispered quietly trying to figure out why his suit was walking and talking on its own without being commanded to.
"There was this terrible noise, and I was tangled in... in... Strings." He fumbled a little more looking down on it's body. We all stood stiff watching the robot before us uneasily. "I had to kill the other guy. He was a good guy." The robot looked back at us all.
"You killed someone?" I questioned as I stepped forward through Thor and Steve's muscular barricade. Thor grabbed my hand trying not to let me go any closer.
"Wouldn't of been my first call. But, down in the real world, we're faced with ugly choices." The creepy beaten down bot looked right at me at it answered my question.
"Who sent you?" Thor demanded.
"I see a suit of armor around the world." The robot played Tony's voice through it's mechanical body.
"Ultron?" Banner said surprised. He looked astounded.
"In the flesh. Or, no, not yet. Not this chrysalis. But I'm ready." As he spoke I could hear gun's clicking out of their safety's, Thor squeezed my hand slowly pulling me beside him. He firmly gripped Mjolnir. I had the violet wisps running through my fingertips, rearing to attack. "I'm on mission."
"What mission?" Nat questioned.
"Peace of our time." He stated.
Suddenly other bots flew threw the wall right towards us. Steve kicked the table that we stood near, flipping it up as protection. One of the bots slammed into it and knocked Steve behind the couch. They came flying at from all angles. I shot a blast at one of the one's coming right for me and destroyed it. Thor stood behind me swinging his hammer and destroying another one. I watched around me as I fought seeing the others scramble to fight or to get away.
I ran towards where I watched Tony and Rhodey jump over the railing. A suit was following behind them. I jumped on it back as it knocked Tony down to the ground, and had made Rhodey go crashing through the glass window. Maria jumped after Rhodey, while I kicked and punched the bot. I finally managed to rip its head from its mechanical body. I jumped away from the falling bot, and ran over to wear Tony was stuck under a bookcase. I moved it and grabbed Tony's hand, helping him stand back up on his feet. I turned just in time to see one of the bots grabbing the scepter.
"Shit. We just got that back." I mumbled, trying to throw blast's at it.
Tony put a hand on my shoulder and gave me a knowing look. I nodded at him and I set out a shield of energy. Allowing Tony to jump on it. He jumped from it to grab onto one of the bot's flying above us shooting at Bruce and Nat, using a screwdriver to stab into it's head. I looked around quickly and watched as Steve was knocked in the wall and tossed to the floor. I ran to him and grabbed the bot trying to attack him with both of my hands. The energy in my hands, melted the bot that continued to struggle in my grasp.
"Thor." I shouted. Tossing the bot in his direction. He slammed down on it with his hammer, destroying it.
"Hey, Cap!" Clint shouted.
He ran from behind us and threw Steve his shield. Steve threw it at one of the last bots flying over us, making it crash to the ground.
"That was dramatic. I'm sorry, I know you mean well. You just didn't think it through." Ultron said. The bot paused as we all started to slowly close in around Ultron. "You want to protect the world but you don't want it to change. How is humanity saved if it's not allowed to evolve?" He walked over towards one of the downed bots and picked it up by it's head. "With these?" He spat and almost chuckled. "These puppet's." He crushed it's head. "There's only one path to peace. With the Avenger's extinction." Ultron growled.
Thor threw his hammer in his own anger and destroyed the bot. Mjolnir came flying back to him.
"I had string's, but now I'm free...." The bot sang before shutting down.
I turned and glared at Tony as did everyone else. They all began walking to the lab following Tony and Banner.
"I'll follow the trail, see if I can't intercept the scepter again." Thor caressed my cheek and I nodded at him. He flew off out the broken windows to follow a trail of the bots. I walked into the Lab where everyone was conversing.
"All our work is gone. Ultron cleared out. He used the internet as an escape hatch." Banner stated.
"Ultron." Steve grumbled.
"He's been in everything. Files, surveillance. Probably knows more about us than we know about each other." Nat shared after clicking through the computer seeing what thing's had Ultron accessed.
I happened a quick glance at Clint, seeing how nervous he was. I knew exactly what it was for.
"He's in your files, he's in the internet. What if he decides to access something a little more exciting?" Rhodes stood up and asked. Being a military man he was absolutely right.
"Nuclear codes." Maria breathed.
"Nuclear code's. Look, we need to make some calls, assuming we still can." Rhodey explained.
"Nukes? He said he wanted us dead?" Nat looked between them.
"He didn't say "dead." He said "extinct." I spoke out concerned. My tone was laced with anger. Steve reached out and touched my arm. I glanced back at him giving me a reassuring smile.
"He also said he killed somebody." Clint stated.
"There wasn't anyone else in the building." Maria looked around almost nervous.
"Yes, there was." Tony stood up and grabbed a holograph chip, tipping it forward to show a yellow hologram in the middle of the room. I gasped and stood from my chair. I reached forward and put my fingers through the tangled mess.
"Jarvis..." I said quietly.
"What? This is insane." Banner stated as he came from behind me and walked around in a circle studying the imagery before us.
"Jarvis was the first line of defense. He would have shut Ultron down. It make sense." Steve spoke quietly.
"No. Ultron could have assimilated Jarvis. This isn't strategy. This. This is rage." Banner continued to study the body or what was left of the mechanical AI's simulation form.
There was a small whoosh and I watched as Thor came back into the room and walked swiftly towards Tony.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Rhodes said as Thor grabbed Tony by the throat lifting him off the ground.
"There's a lot of that going around." Clint stated.
"Come on, buddy. Use your word's." Tony choked. I walked over and put my hand on Thor's bicep.
"I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark." Thor growled.
"Honey, put him down." I spoke softly. "Please." Thor's blaring fiery gaze looked over at me and softened. He released his grasp, pushing Tony backwards. "What happened with the Legionnaire?"
"Trail went cold about 100 miles out, but it's headed north. And it has the scepter. Now we have to retrieve it, again." He explained very much irritated as were the rest of us.
I intertwined my finger's through his to calm him. I could feel some of his tension melt away as he squeezed my hand. I'm really glad that I could feel his emotions as strongly as I do. And have that effect on them. It help's to know that I can calm him. Just like he does for me.
"Genie's out of that bottle. Clear and present is Ultron." Nat stated with her arm's crossed.
"Tony, you built this program. I don't understand. Why is it trying to kill us?" I asked as I looked to him.
He turned around and started off while a small giggle and then made it to a full chuckle. Banner stood next to him shaking his head trying to get him to knock it off.
"You think this is funny?" Thor demanded, trying to take a step forward towards him. I held tightly to him. As much I was angry with Tony to, I didn't want him to get hurt.
"No." Tony stopped laughing but still had a rather large smile on his face as he turned towards us.
"Well, then mind filing us in, chuckles?" I glared at him.
"Well, I mean it's probably not, right? This is very terrible. Is it so.." He let out an accidental laugh. "It is terrible isn't it?"
"This could have been avoided if you hadn't played with something that you don't understand." Thor spoke up walking us slightly forward.
"No. I'm sorry." Tony said walking up to us. "I'm sorry. It is funny." He said seriously.
"Tony." I warned.
"It's a hoot that you don't get why we needed this." Tony growled.
"Tony, maybe this might not be the time." Bruce mumbled.
"Really? That's it? You just roll over and show your belly every time somebody snarls?" Tony shot back at his sarcastically.
"Only when I've created a murder bot!" Bruce exclaimed.
"But that's the thing. We didn't. We weren't even close. Were we close to an interface?" Tony asked and Bruce gave him an shrug with his hand's out. Stating sort of.
"Well, you did something right. And you did it right here. The Avengers were supposed to be different than Shield." Steve spoke up with an annoyed tone. He too, walked closer towards us.
"Anyone remember when I carried a nuke through a worm hole?" Tony looked astounded that no one was on his side on this subject.
"No, that's certainly never come up." I rolled my eyes and said. Rhodey let out a small chuckle at my statement.
"No, never heard that one before." Rhodey shook his head.
"Recall that." Tony sent me a glaring look. "A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We were all standing 300 feet below it. We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealer, all the live long day, but that up there. That's the endgame. How were you guys planning on beating that?" Tony looked at all of us.
"Together." Steve stated.
"We will lose." Tony stated back.
"Then we will do that together, too." I walked over standing between Steve and Thor. Looking right at Tony.
"Thor is right. Ultron's calling us out. And I'd like to find him before he's ready for us. The world is a big place. Let's start making it smaller." Steve said. He is always so good at his speeches big or small.
Everyone in the room immediately got to work, trying to track down and find Ultron. Tony sat over at one of his tables and I gave Thor a small kiss on the cheek, and we exchanged knowing glances. He pushed his forehead to mine and we quickly took each other's presence in. Before he would return to try and find the where about's of Ultron. I walked over and sat at the table Tony was at in a chair next to him.
"Why didn't you tell me about this? About any of it?" I asked quietly.
"Well, for one you were already mad at me. Two, as you can see I didn't tell anyone else. Except Bruce. I'm just trying to do right here. We've always talked about where we would see ourselves in 10-20 years. Safe, with families, friend's. Not needing to do this." Tony lifted his hand and gestured around us as he huffed. He ran his hand through his hair.
"I get your trying to do what you thought was right. But suit's? Ultron? Tony, there could of been a hundred different ways for us to create some kind of peace. That's why we are who we are. We are the Avengers. We all know this doesn't just end for us. Not without, not coming home." I choked a bit on my word's. I couldn't stand the thought of losing anyone else that I loved. Tony pulled me close and gave me a hug.
"That's why I wanted to do this, kiddo. So you can get out of this alive. Safe. Happy even. We are going to get this figured out." He sighed.
"I really need to talk to you about what I saw." I said quietly. He pulled away and looked at me with his usual eager eyes. "It almost seemed like a warning. Something told me someone is coming. I know right now we face Ultron as a threat. But I'm starting to think this is not about him. There's going to be a lot we have to face, and it's coming soon. I can feel it. I need to find answers and I need to talk about all of this with my Uncle and soon."
"Okay, can you even get to Asgard? And what else did you see?"
"I don't know. I'm not supposed to be allowed up there, but maybe this threat will be big enough that I'll be allowed back. And everyone one of you were dead, Tony. It was horrible. I was surrounded by your dead bodies. Even my Dad's. He spoke to me and said we failed. That I failed." I sighed. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes just thinking about the tolling message. He put a hand on my shoulder.
"She tricked me too. I saw nearly the same thing..." Tony said quietly. I looked at him. We shared a knowing glance. Things were about to get very hard for us.
We got word after about a day of searching for sign's of Ultron that he was on the move.
"Any message's from up high?" Steve asked he walked into the room.
"No. Nothing from my Uncle, Heimdall. He's either busy or has been ordered not to answer." I shook my head and Thor grabbed my hand.
"It is strange, but we will get this sorted, my love. After we deal with Ultron." Thor kissed my temple.
"Well, guys. I might have something." Steve said as he handed a tablet to Thor. I peeked up at it from next to him and it was a picture of Strucker dead, with the word Peace written across the wall behind him in blood.
"What's this?" Tony asked as he walked over to us.
Thor was still rightfully angry for Tony losing the scepter again because, it meant a longer time he had to wait to be able to return home. So he took the tablet and shoved it into his arm's.
"A message. Ultron killed Strucker." Steve explained.
"And he did a Banksy at the crime scene, just for us." Tony said sarcastically.
"This is a smokescreen. Why send a message when you've just given a speech?" Nat pointed out.
"You think Strucker must have known something that Ultron wanted us to miss..." I agreed nodding my head slowly.
"Yeah, exactly. I bet he..." Nat said and turned to look at the computer in front of her. She typed away and the computer beeped with a large red deleted bar coming up. "Yep. Everything we had on Strucker's been erased."
"Not everything." Tony said quietly and we all looked at him. "Come on, come help me with these." Tony looked at me and I nodded.
Each one of us followed him and helped carry out load's of old file boxes. We began to search through them, paper by paper, file by file. Looking for any information that we may have stored from old Shield file's for Strucker.
"Known associates." Steve said as he looked at one of the files. "Baron Strucker had a lot of friend's."
"Well, these are all horrible people." Bruce said.
"Hey, wait. I know that guy." Tony said looking over my shoulder. I held open the file and pulled out one of the picture's.
"Ulysses Klaue?" I read off the paper and looked at Tony.
"Yeah, from back in the day. He operates off the African coast, black market arm's." Tony explained looking around at us all. Each of us were giving him accusatory look's. "There are convention's. All right? You meet people. I didn't sell him anything. He was talking about finding something new, a game changer. It was all very Ahab."
"This." Thor pointed over my shoulder at the man in the picture's neck.
"It look's like a tattoo...?" I said as I squinted looking closer at the picture.
"No, no, those are tattoo's." Thor pointed. "But this." We all looked a little closer. "It's a brand."
I handed the picture's to Bruce as he inspected it and scanned it into the computer in order to look it up.
"Oh, yeah." Bruce confirmed as he got a match. "It's a word in an Africa dialect meaning 'thief'. In a much less friendly way."
"What dialect?" Steve asked him.
"Wakanada. W-w-wakanda." Bruce tried to pronounce it. Tony looked at Steve.
"If this guy got out of Wakanda with some of their trade goods..." Tony said quietly.
"I thought your father said he got the last of it?" Steven furrowed his eyebrows.
"Howard got the last of what?" I asked confused.
"Yeah, I don't follow. What comes out of Wakanda?" Bruce asked.
Tony and Steve both turned to Steve's shield that sat up on the floor behind us.
"The strongest metal on earth." Tony stated.
"Vibranium? Do you think that could be something Ultron's after? If so, where would this guy be now?" I raised my eyebrow and leaned back on Thor.
"Well, his dealer spot used to be a salvage yard. So, pack it up, kids. We're going to the African Coast." Tony announced.