"All our work is gone. Ultron cleared out. He used the Internet as an escape hatch." Bruce said as they all stood around in the lab where Ultron once was with Jarvis.
"Ultron." Steve said with a scoff as he looked over at Cassie who sat on the nearby desk in a set of comfortable clothes she had changed into.
"He's been in everything. Files, surveillance. Probably knows more about us than we know about each other." Natasha said as she stood beside Cassie with her arms crossed in front of her chest.
"He's in your files, he's in the Internet. What if he decided to access something a little more exciting?" Rhodey said as he also stood in the lab holding his injured right arm.
"Nuclear codes." Maria Hill said, getting everyone to turn to her as she sat in a chair taking shards of glass from her foot.
"Nuclear codes." Steve said with a nod as he simply sighed standing beside Cassie.
"Look, we need to make some calls, assuming we still can." Rhodey said looking over at Tony who had his full attention on the robot in front of him that was once Ultron.
"Nukes?" Cassie questioned from her seat on top of the desk. "He said he wanted us dead." Cassie said, getting everyone to turn to her.
"He didn't say dead. He said extinct." Steve said quickly looking around the lab.
"He also said he killed somebody." Clint said from the upper level in the lab.
"There wasn't anyone else in the building." Maria said, looking up at Clint.
"Yes there was." Tony said walking to the center of the lab before bringing up a hologram of orange technology that was being taken over by blue technology.
"What?" Bruce asked shocked as he made his way closer to the hologram. "This is insane." He added as he examined closely.
"Jarvis was the first line of defense. He would have shut Ultron down. It makes sense." Steve said as Cassie hopped off the desk to make her way closer to the hologram.
"No." Cassie simply said, shaking her head as she made her way to stand right in front of it. "Ultron could have assimilated Jarvis." She added as Bruce simply nodded and looked up between Steve and Tony.
"Cassie's right, this isn't strategy. This is rage." Bruce simply said before turning back to Cassie who simply rolled her eyes as a full suited Thor came storming into the room.
He quickly approached Tony and quickly wrapped his hand around Tony's throat as he lifted him in the air, cutting away his airways.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Steve called out as he tried to calm Thor down.
"And that rage is going around apparently." Cassie said sarcastically as she saw the anger within Thor.
"Come on, use your words, buddy." Tony said as Thor kept his hold around his throat.
"I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark." Thor said as Cassie looked over at Steve to get him to step in.
"Thor!" Steve simply called out, taking a step forward to the two. "The Legionnaire." He quickly said as Thor brought Tony down, who simply tried to steady his breathing.
"Trail went cold about 100 miles out, but it's headed north. And it has the scepter." Thor said, looking between Cassie and Steve.
"Great, now we have to retrieve it... Again..." Cassie said with an eye roll as she looked over at Tony and brought her hand up to her temple.
"I don't understand." Helen Cho said from beside the broken robot, getting them all to look at her. "You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?" She added as Cassie quickly furrowed her eyebrows looking over at Tony.
Tony's sarcastic chuckles made Cassie's skin boil. Just because of the fact that it is something that shouldn't be joked about at the moment. A lot of human lives could be in danger and he was simply laughing.
"You think this is funny?" Cassie said as she shook her head looking at Tony's back.
"No." Tony said, turning around to face her. "It's probably not, right? This is very terrible. Is it so... Is it so... It's so terrible." He said as he looked around the room laughing.
"Tony, all of this could have been avoided if you hadn't played with something you clearly don't understand." Cassie said as she took a step towards him. Tony was about to say something but she quickly shut him up with her words.
"It's hilarious that you don't get why we need this." Tony said as he also came to face the girl in front of him.
"Oh yeah, we need this?" Cassie asked, pointing down at the hologram. "This? That just sentenced us to an extinction." She added as she shook her head. "Tony you know I'm with you in everything but not this." Cassie said, shaking her head keeping her finger pointed at the hologram.
"You created a murder bot." She said as Tony quickly looked over at Bruce.
"We didn't build it. We weren't even close. Were we closer to an interface?" He asked looking over at Bruce who simply sighed and nodded his head.
"Well, you did something right. And you did it right here." Steve said, taking a step forward looking at Tony. "The Avengers were supposed to be different than S.H.I.E.L.D." He added as Tony simply looked around the room.
"Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?" He said as Cassie simply scoffed and rolled her eyes.
"No, it's never come up." Rhodey said, shaking his head on the side.
"Saved New York?" Tony added as his eyes landed on Cassie. "Recall that? Oh wait you wouldn't because you weren't even there. Well let me tell you how it went." He said getting Cassie to shake her head and roll her tongue over her teeth.
"A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing 300 feet below it while you're in a peaceful room sipping martini's." Tony said as Cassie simply couldn't say anything in return.
She didn't know what to say because it was true, slightly. Cassie wasn't at the battle in New York, she was in one of S.H.I.E.L.D. missions. She wasn't even in the country when that battle broke out.
"My point is, we're the Avengers. We can bust dealers all the livelong day, but that up there, that's... That's the endgame." He said as he looked around the room. "How are you guys planning on beating that?"
"Together." Steve said as Cassie turned to him and sent him a nod.
"We'll lose." Tony said, taking a step towards the blonde male standing beside the brunette girl.
"Then we'll do that together, too." Cassie said, taking up on Steve's comment. "Look Thor's right. Ultron's calling us out. And I'd like to find him before he's ready for us." She added as she looked around the room at everyone.
"The world's a big place. Let's start making it smaller." Steve said as he also looked around the room taking up on Cassie's comments.
"What's this?" Tony asked as Steve handed Thor the tablet in his hand.
"A message. Ultron killed Strucker." Steve said as Thor slammed the tablet roughly into Tony's chest letting his displeasure be known.
"And he did a Banksy at the crime scene, just for us." Tony said as he took a look at the picture on the tablet as Bruce and Cassie made their way over to them.
"This is a smoke screen." Natasha said as she was handed the tablet and Cassie and Bruce also took a look at it.
"Why send a message when you've just given a speech?" Cassie said, backing up Natasha's point as she sat on the arm rest of the chair Natasha was sitting on.
"Strucker knew something that Ultron wanted us to miss." Steve said, nodding his head over at Cassie before looking over at Tony.
"Yeah, I bet he... Yeah." Natasha said as she typed away at the computer and realized everything was cleared out.
"Everything we had on Strucker's been erased." She said as everyone in the room looked at each other before Steve spoke up once again.
"Not everything." He said nudging to the boxes of files over in the back.
"Ughh, I hate paperwork." Cassie said with a slight eye roll as she dropped her head and leaned on Natasha.
The team gathered in the files room and quickly started going through files. Cassie had been through about two boxes dealing with Strucker. If one thing is this man had a history, there were so many boxes just about him.
"Known associates." Thor said as he scanned through a file.
"Baron Strucker had a lot of friends." Steve said as he brought another box to the table he was currently sharing with Cassie, Thor, Bruce, Natasha, and Tony.
"Well, these people are all horrible." Bruce added as he scanned a file with multiple people associated with Strucker.
"Wait. I know that guy." Tony said, catching sight of a known man as Bruce looked up at him and handed him the file. "From back in the day. He operates off the African coast. Black market arms." He added getting a judgmental look from Steve.
"There are conventions. All right? You meet people. I didn't sell him anything." Tony said before Cassie caught their attention.
"Sureeeee." She said with a slight eye roll as Clint made his way over to the table after finishing his box.
"He was talking about finding something new, a game-changer. It's all very Ahab." Tony went on as Cassie's attention was drawn over to a sheet that Thor had in hand.
"Wait, let me see this." Cassie said as Thor handed her the sheet and she saw images and information of Ulysses Klaue.
"I know this guy as well." Cassie said as she furrowed her eyebrows and continued looking at the sheet. "I was sent on a mission by Fury to capture him. He was being seeked by African authorities for theft." She added as she kept the file in hand.
"See, not just I know the man." Tony said, looking over at Steve.
"This?" Thor questioned as he pointed at the scar on Klaue's neck.
"Ah, it's a tattoo, I don;t think he had it." Tony added and Cassie quickly shook her head.
"No, these are tattoo's." Cassie said pointing at the tattoo on his chest. "This is a brand. He didn't have it when I took him to the African authorities." She added as she pointed over at what Thor once pointed out.
Bruce quickly took the file in hand and brought it under the scanner. A match was quickly found and Cassie made her way around the table to see what it was.
"Oh, yeah. It's a word in an African dialect meaning 'thief.' In a much less friendly way." Bruce said, getting Cassie to nod as she saw the symbol on the screen.
"They must have branded him after Cassie took him in." Natasha said as Cassie continued reading the words on the screen.
"What dialect?" Steve asked from across the table.
"Wakanada." Bruce responded, getting Cassie to chuckle and shake her head.
"It's Wakanda, and from what I know after being sent there is that they have the strongest metal on Earth." Cassie said as she pointed over at Steve's shield. "I wouldn't be surprised if he's the guy we're looking for." She added as she rolled her eyes slightly at the fact that this man once again was on her target list.
"If this guy got out of Wakanda after Cassie took him in with some of their trade goods..." Tony said as Cassie listened in closely from across the table.
"I thought your father said he got the last of it." Steve quickly responded, getting Cassie to shake her head.
"Oh cap I can assure you there is way more." Cassie said, getting Bruce to furrow his eyebrows.
AFRICAN COAST
{SALVAGE YARD}
As she cautiously made her way through the old ship she kept her head on a swivel. She held her gun with a silencer in front of her in case someone came at her unexpectedly. So far she hadn't had any encounters with anybody.
She met up with Thor who had made his way to the lower level. They then saw Ultron cutting off Klaue's arm. Cassie felt disgusted yet she simply kept her composure as she stood beside Thor.
"Stark is... He's a sickness!" Ultron said as Tony hovered over the two Avengers before landing right in front of them.
"Ah, Junior. You're gonna break your old man's heart." Tony said as Ultron turned to look at the three Avengers that stood in front of him, Wanda, and Pietro.
"If I have to." Ultron said as he took a couple steps forward.
"Nobody has to break anything." Thor said, gaining Ultron's attention.
"Clearly you've never made an omelet." Ultron said, getting Cassie to roll her eyes at his statement.
"He beat me by one second." Tony said, looking back at Thor.
"Ah, yes. He's funny." Pietro said, gaining everybody's attention from where he stood behind Ultron. "Mr. Stark. It's what? Comfortable? Like old times?" He said taking a step closer to the three as he looked around the ship and saw all the packaged missiles.
"This was never my life." Tony said as Cassie took a step forward tightening a hold on her taser disk gun.
"You two can still walk away from this." Cassie said as she came to stand beside Tony as she overlooked the Maximoff twins.
"Oh, we will." Wanda said from behind Ultron getting Cassie to sigh as she kept her eyes on the Maximoff girl.
"Look, I know you've suffered." Cassie said as she removed her hand from her gun and brought it up in front of her meaning no harm.
"Ughh, the Dare Devil trying to be an angel." Ultron said as he tilted his head getting the woman in front of him to look over at him. "I can't physically throw up in my mouth, but..." He added before Thor spoke up behind Cassie.
"If you believe in peace, then let us keep it." He said as he held a tight grip on Mjølnir.
"I think you're confusing 'peace' with 'quiet.'" Ultron said, taking a step forward.
"Uh-huh. What's the vibranium for?" Cassie quickly asked, taking a step forward as well.
"I'm glad you asked that, because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan." Ultron said before he brought his hand up attracted Tony in before slamming him against the wall behind Thor and Cassie.
Out of nowhere two other minnie Ultron's came up the rails and started attacking Cassie and Thor. As Tony flew up in the air fighting Ultron himself, Cassie and Thor simply tried to defend themselves from the robots.
Cassie threw a punch at the robot which was a terrible idea being that it was made out of metal. Seeing as Cassie was about to tear the robot apart Wanda quickly knocked her onto the floor with her powers.
Gunshots started echoing throughout the ship as Cassie got up and was about to charge at Wanda when suddenly a blast of energy sent her into the same wall Tony had just been thrown into. She looked to her left and saw Pietro standing beside his sister with a smirk on his face. He was the one that threw her onto the wall with his speed.
Cassie quickly brought out her taser disk gun and before either twin could react shot a disk at Pietro sending him down to the ground.
"Please just stay down, kids." Cassie said looking over at Wanda who was at her brother's side who laid unconscious on the floor.
Cassie quickly ran away to help her team yet she could only get so far. When suddenly she was blinded just like the first time. Wanda was right behind her playing games within her mind. Yet the Maximoff girl quickly pulled away with a scared expression when she realized Cassie had nothing.
"You have no memory." Wanda whispered as Cassie gained her vision once again.
"Yeah, which is why I'm not a big fan of mind games." Cassie said as she quickly reached for a taser disk yet she was quickly slammed into the wall by the guy she thought was going to be out for quite some time.
"Thor, status." Steve said into the communication system as Cassie was being pinned down.
"The girl tried to warp my mind. Take special care. I doubt a human could keep her at bay. Fortunately, I am mighty." Thor simply responded before he went into his own fantasy.
Wanda took Cassie's distraction to her advantage and waltzed her way back into Cassie's mind. As Pietro held the weak girl pinned to the floor Wanda encountered a wall within her mind. She quickly brought that wall down and soon memories of her childhood would come flooding into Cassie's mind.
With Wanda taking over her memories, Cassie couldn't fight off Pietro's hold. For one because she couldn't see him since she was blinded by Wanda. And second, she didn't have the strength to do so, it was as if her strength was being stripped away from her.
"Cassie status." Steve said yet he received no response from the girl that was now laying on the floor unconscious. "Cassie, status." He called out once again before Pietro sped into him, throwing him towards the ground. Wanda quickly waltzed her way into his mind as well sending him into a fantasy of his own.
Yet he quickly fought out of it and as soon as he regained consciousness of the real world he searched the entire ship for the rest of the team. Natasha was taken into the jet by Clint who seemed to be the only one that Wanda hadn't played mind games with.
When Steve made his way up a stair of ladders he quickly saw a woman's figure laying on the ground. From the color of her suit Steve quickly knew it was Cassie.
"Cassie." He said as he quickly made his way over to the unconscious girl who was shivering as if she was cold. Seeing as how she wouldn't respond to him Steve quickly picked her up and took her in his arms bridal style.
"Guys, we need to head back." Steve said into the comms as he made his way out of the ship with an unconscious Cassie in his arms.
WITHIN HER MIND
~ { 1977 } ~
A seven year old Cassie sat in her living room playing with her dolls when she saw her dad outside doing his daily training. Her mother was in the kitchen getting dinner ready since they were set to have guests that night. Cassie's curiosity took the best of her when she simply put down her dolls and moved over towards the sliding doors in her home.
She made her way out of the house with her bare feet coming into contact with the green grass outside. Cassie made her way to her father and quickly gained his attention.
"What are you doing out here, little Cas?" Her father questioned as he kneeled down in front of the young girl with sweat dripping down his forehead.
"I want to learn how to fight." Cassie said with a smile as her toes fiddled within the grass.
"Oh you don't have to know how to fight, darling." George said, tucking a piece of loose clothing behind her ear.
"Why not? What if one day I need to defend myself from the bad guys." Little Cassie said, trying to plead with the best soft eyes she could give her father.
George looked around her and saw Marie standing by the door overlooking the two. She sent George a smile and he simply looked back at Cassie and shook his head.
"You won't ever have to fight off the bad guys, because I'll always be there to defend you, little Cas." He said quickly pulling the young girl into his arms for a hug.
~ { 1989 } ~
A nineteen year old Cassie was making her way into Stark Industries for her day to day job. She was a computer analyst that simply did anything but what she was supposed to do. She wanted to help her father with the new experiment that he was developing with Howard Stark.
"How are we doing today, Oli." Cassie said waving at the secretary that sat outside of her father's office.
"I wouldn't go in there right now Miss Cassandra." Olivia said as she quickly stood up and came to stand in front of George's office.
"Why's that?" Cassie asked, trying to make her way around Olivia to get a view inside the room.
"Now you know your father doesn't like you sticking your nose into his business." Marie said from behind the girl as she came out of her office.
"What is dad up to in there with Mr. Stark?" Cassie said as she turned around and walked over to her mother.
"Well I think they may have made good progress with the Super Soldier Serum formula." Marie said as the two made their way over to her office.
"Have they tested it yet?" Cassie quickly asked, eager to find out.
"Calm down darling, and no they haven't." Marie quickly responded as the two took a seat in the office.
"Ughh, I want to help so badly but dad won't let me. He won't even teach me how to fight." Young Cassie said as she sat on the couch in her mother's office.
"He's right, you know, you're a pretty lady. You don't need to know how to fight." Marie said, getting Cassie to scoff.
"You're a pretty woman and you know how to fight." Cassie quickly contradicted.
"Look how about you focus on finding a handsome guy and go on a date. Cassie, you're 19 and haven't brought a single boyfriend home." Marie said looking at her only daughter sitting on the couch across from her desk. "I'm starting to think we won't be getting grandchildren from you." Marie said, getting Cassie to quickly chuckle.
"Yeah that is my cue to go." Cassie said getting up and fixing her black skirt.
"I'm just saying, me and your dad are so anxious to meet a boyfriend of yours." Marie said as she remained seated behind her desk seeing her daughter walk towards the door.
"Then you and dad will have to keep waiting. I am in no rush to settle, I can keep living with you two." Cassie said as she sent her mother a wink and reached to open the door.