PREVIOUSLY ON: Dawn of New Change
The after party included Taeyong watching most of the Avengers and even Hill and Taeil try their hand at lifting Thor's Hammer. With Thor's full confidence that if they could lift Mjolnir, then they were allowed to rule over Asgard, so Taeyong sends a quick prayer to the Greek Goddess Hestia and tries. He's unsuccessful but it's alright because the Avengers have a bigger problem to worry about.
Ultron has gone rogue.
Taeil had a scrutinising furrow set in his brow as he stood in Tony's lab, looking over the data that was made to bring Ultron to life. Except, most of it was completely gone by the time they tried to gather intel. His eyes flickered over the many calculations that Tony had written down immediately when the opportunity came, which is to say, not a lot.
Taeyong felt completely helpless as he sat on one of the work benches, hugging his knees together and looking around the lab. His chest squeezed in an awful way as he continued to stare at Taeil, watching his friend, looking over the work that Taeyong, Tony and Bruce had concocted in just three days of having Loki's sceptre within their reach.
"All our work is gone," Bruce said in a quiet voice, hand coming to scrub at his face as if he couldn't quite believe what they had accomplished. Taeyong felt guilty about it, but he could almost feel the pressure on his shoulder lift, after seeing Bruce in panic mode. There's something about fucking up hugely, to a point, that the world becomes their consequence, that Taeyong feels almost safe in.
He knows how badly the experiments that both he and his dad work on, can be detrimental. There's always going to be something that falls back on the both of them. For the first suit, Obadiah almost stole the design and started a new terrorist war. Then there was the time that Hammer wanted the suit to sell to the government. The one mistake his dad made in 1999, when Taeyong wasn't even born, and they had to face the consequences together with A.I.M. and Killian.
But Taeyong, who is still just a teenager, who had full confidence in his dad, understands that they will come out of it unscathed. As they always do.
It still hurt a little because the look that Taeil sported, standing over their fallen lab, was of disappointment. Taeyong, as much as he tried to act the confident and uncaring teen, does not want to disappoint Taeil.
"Ultron cleared out," Bruce said, placing a hand over Taeil's shoulder. The student blinked, looking away from the notes and rubbed at his eyes. "He used the Internet as an escape hatch."
"The Internet?" Taeil murmured, eyes reddening as he looked around at the rest of the Avengers. "He could literally be anywhere. Fucking hell, that means he has access to anything."
"Ultron," Steve said, looking around at the group and then at Taeyong, who was the only one that could take his gaze. Tony was too busy staring down at his broken Iron Legion suit and Bruce was really carrying the 'shame' on his shoulders. Taeyong gave the Captain a nod, because that was what he was, Ultron. The peacekeeping initiative that Howard Stark theorised and Taeyong, Tony and Bruce helped turn into a reality. Except, nothing about what happened felt like a reality.
Taeyong, for all that he was very much present throughout the fight, felt himself falling into a floaty haze.
Natasha was the first to speak objectively though. Which was much appreciated, because it seemed that everyone was kind of in a daze after that fight. Taeyong just remembered then that they all had alcohol in their system.
"He's been in everything," she said. "Files, surveillance. Probably knows more about us than we do." She crossed her arms, jutting her hip against the glass wall and looked back at Rhodey.
Rhodey, who had a bag of iced peas pressed against his right arm, came forward, "he's in your files. He's in the Internet. What if he decides to access something a little more exciting?"
Maria Hill, from her seat at the corner of the lab, lifted her head. "Nuclear codes," she sighed before pressing her lips into a thin line. "This is gonna be a lot of paperwork..."
"Look," Rhodey said, walking further into the room and getting everyone's attention. Well, somewhat everyone's attention, Thor was flying out trying to find the other Iron Legion suits that had escaped in the fight. "We need to make some calls, assuming we still can."
"Nukes?" Natasha tilted her head, eyeing Rhodey. "He said he wanted us dead-"
"He didn't say 'dead.' He said 'extinct.'" Steve interrupted.
Taeyong gulped, curling into a smaller ball on the workbench. The younger boy tried to look back at his dad but Tony hadn't faced any of them since their moving to the Labs. Instead, Tony's hands were clenched against the side of the workbench, knuckled white with the grip he had.
Clint stepped forward, handing Taeil a bottle of water. "He also said he killed somebody." Taeyong felt his eyes sting suddenly.
"There wasn't anyone else in the building," Hill reminded.
Tony sighed heavily, finally stepped back from his work space and walked forward to the centre of the Labs. "Yes, there was," he said, hand holding a familiar device.
Taeyong felt a lump in his throat, "dad- no." Without much warning, Tony displayed what was left of Jarvis' original UI system up on the hologram set-up. Taeyong felt his eyes widen as he looked over the warm, orange glow of Jarvis... or really, what was left of him. He stumbled off the work bench, a bunch of different projects tumbling down with him. Everyone flinched, looking over at Taeyong who gasped with a choking sound as he made his way to the hologram.
Taeyong's hands reached out tentatively. "Jarvis- it- he-" His eyes watered, tears falling immediately as Taeyong just stood there, arms out reaching for shattered remains Jarvis. The hologram, one that Taeyong had seen quite a few times in his life, always mesmerised by the round and pulsing presence of Jarvis watched on as the hologram spun in a slow circuit to showcase what exactly was done to it. Instead of interconnecting lines, the glow of different areas and smooth movement of different codes running throughout him, what was left was fragmented spots. It was like Taeyong was trying to swipe up and gather broken glass, cutting his hands be damned.
Everyone in the room watched on as the younger boy just stood there, trying to understand what had happened to Jarvis' system.
"This... is insane," Bruce said.
Steve stared at the ground, closing his eyes. "Jarvis was the first line of defence. He would have shut Ultron down. It makes sense."
"No," Bruce shook his head. "Ultron could have assimilated Jarvis."
Taeyong nodded, taking a step back and wiping at his face harshly. "This isn't a programmed strategy," he said and then motioned to the weaker spots of Jarvis's system. "This is..."
"It's rage," Bruce said.
Taeyong looked up when he heard the thundering steps of Thor enter the lab. The God of Thunder didn't spare anyone a glance as he walked into the Laboratory. He had his sights set on Tony and then Taeyong blinked, not even understanding what was going on until his dad was in the air and Clint stepped forward.
"Christ," Taeil whispered.
"Oh-" Tony choked, hands coming to Thor's arm. "Use your words buddy."
"Thor!" Taeyong shouted, running over and grabbing at the God's arm. "Let him go!"
"I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark," Thor said, ignoring Taeyong.
"Thor!" Steve called, taking Taeyong by the shoulder and pulling him back. "The Legionnaire?"
Thor let Tony go and that's when Steve let Taeyong go who ran over to his dad and pulled him away, glaring at the God. Thor didn't even glance at Taeyong, simply glaring at Tony who rubbed at his neck. Rhodey stepped forward, putting himself between both Starks and the God. "Trail went cold about a hundred miles out, but it's headed north." He groaned, "and it has the sceptre! Now we have to retrieve it, again."
"Genie's out of that bottle," Natasha piped up. "Clear and present as Ultron."
"I don't understand," Helen Cho said finally. Everyone turned and Taeyong blinked, having briefly forgotten that she was in the room with them. Helen, bless her, was wearing one of Steve's jackets, having ripped one of the straps in her dress and her hair was a bit of a mess. But she was holding onto one of the Iron Legion's face plates. "You built this program," she said, turning to Tony.
Tony got out of Taeyong's grip, walking over to the nearest desk space. Taeyong trailed after him, grabbing his dad's shirt sleeve. Tony subconsciously placed an arm around his shoulders, bringing Taeyong in. The younger felt his heart stutter, today had been a mess and he should probably sleep everything off.
"Why's it trying to kill us?" she asked.
Taeyong turned to look up at his dad who stared ahead at the blank computer before the edge of lip turned upwards. Taeyong's brows drew together and then he frowned when Tony started to laugh. But not in the subtle deep chuckle that he did when he was pleased about something. No- he laughed light and feathery, like everything was in shambles.
Taeyong turned back to Rhodey who arched a brow. Rhodey and Taeyong made eye contact, a silent message passing between them as they waited to see what would happen.
"Mm-Mmm," Bruce quickly shook his head.
Tony turned to him, a subtle smirk on his lips as he tilted his head, "what no?" Taeyong let his dad rub his back before side stepping away.
"You think this is funny?" Thor asked, eyes blazing.
"No," Tony said, although the sarcasm dripping from his tone spoke otherwise. Taeyong looked back at Rhodey, who simply shook his head. "It's probably not, right? This is very terrible. Is it so..." He gave another laugh, "is it so... It is. It's so terrible," he grinned, arms out and carefree.
Thor almost rolled his eyes, "this could have been avoided if you hadn't played-"
"No!"
"-with something you don't understand," Thor finished.
"No. I'm sorry. I'm sorry," Tony said, walking forward. "It is funny. It's a hoot that you don't get why we need this."
"We need this?" Taeyong repeated, aghast.
"Tony," Bruce said in a gentle voice, "maybe this might not be the time."
"Really? That's it?" Tony turned to Bruce, almost confused. "You just roll over and show your belly every time somebody snarls?"
"Only when I've created a murder bot," Bruce countered.
"We didn't," Tony said. Taeyong gave a hesitant nod, "we weren't even close. Were we close to an interface?"
"We were getting there dad," Taeyong said, crossing his arms. "We may not have wanted this outcome but we knew that we were meddling." Taeyong stepped in front of Bruce and snapped his fingers in front of his dad, garnering the man's attention. "Look at me. We went in knowing we weren't going to tell anyone. You said it yourself, you didn't want to hear 'the man was not meant to meddle' medley-"
Steve placed a hand over Taeyong's shoulder and the teen took a second to breathe in. Trying not to hit something with the anger he was feeling. "You did something right," Steve told Tony. "And you did it right here. 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 asked rhetorically.
Taeyong's breath stuttered and he stared at his dad wide-eyed. Something was wrong with him. He never mentioned the Battle of New York, not willingly and not when it wasn't relevant. It was a thing, something he had been working on in the therapy sessions. Taeyong was about to open his mouth when the others started to argue.
"Oh no-"
"Really?"
"Huh, nope- you never mention it."
"Saved New York? Recall that?" Tony spun around, looking at everyone. "A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing three hundred feet below it." Tony sighed, looking back at Taeyong. "We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the livelong day, but that, up there, that's... that's the endgame."
Taeyong closed his eyes and nodded.
"How were you guys planning on beating them?"
It was Steve that answered. "Together."
"...we'll lose."
"Then we'll do that together, too."
After that, everyone is left in mutual silence. But there's something in the air that makes Taeyong relax a little. There were still the high buss of the fight that was slowing down into a dull little buzzing sound that nestled itself in the back of Taeyong's mind. He looked around the room and decided that maybe he should be the one to speak up.
"I'm tired," he said bluntly, looking back at his dad. "It's one in the morning. I wanna sleep."
Immediately, everyone else seemed to come down from their own adrenaline high because no one refuted Taeyong. He might also have the advantage of being a kid to them so no one felt the need to refute him. If anything, a lot of the people in the Labs were thinking of ways they'd sneak back to do work shildt Taeyong slept. But Tony's shoulders dropped and he gave a silent nod.
"Yeah- you're right. There's nothing we can do about this mess right now. We lost the trail but we know which direction its in," he looked over at Thor who gave a simple nod. The Thunder God looked more placated, probably taking the risk of Ultron as a meagre headache compared to the battles and wars he had won in his life. Taeyong was hit with the immediate thought that maybe Thor just thought this was all a kids game. In which, he couldn't really find much fault in the God's response because okay yeah- makes sense if his friends just mess up what should've been a normal mission.
Arguably, a really easy mission.
Still, Taeyong thought a little grumpily, he didn't have to go and attack his dad like that.
Taeyong blinked, looking over at Taeil who was sitting down on one of Taeyong's spinny chairs and bobbing his head up and down, finally wanting to sleep now that he had permission. "We're gonna need to make some calls, still- Someone needs to know what's going on. The UN, I'll start on that," Rhodey said, already heading towards the door. He ruffled Taeyong's hair and placed a firm hand on Tony's shoulder. Taeyong watched the silent exchange between Rhodey and his dad and felt himself relax a little.
Rhodey and Tony had been through it all together, ever since they came together to save the President and Pepper all of two years ago. It was like they worked in complete sync. Taeyong just hoped that his dad's (and partially, his own) faults didn't strain whatever unspoken bond they had hardened over the years.
Taeil and Dr Helen Cho eventually got escorted out of the Tower by Hill, who was going to oversee their travels back to their respective research facilities. Taeil was basically a walking zombie, blinking up and down after trying to understand whatever jargon Hill was relaying in her formal S.H.I.E.L.D. talk.
"Come on," Tony said, reaching out for Taeyong who looked around and followed his dad out of the room. Taeyong fell into step with his dad, taking the elevator and twitching uncomfortably when there was silence as they descended onto their own floor. Jarvis's voice usually carried a professional tone as he would tell them what floor they went to but now? There was nothing but silence and Taeyong marvelled at the fact that his dad had to manually turn on the lights for their floor.
He walked over to his own room, looking back at his dad, who simply left for his own. Taeyong bit his lip, slipping inside his room and taking out his pajamas. He had gotten changed in the dark and with his mind made up, he scurried out of his bedroom and down the other rooms to get to his dad's and Pepper's room. Taeyong opened the door and immediately tumbled into bed.
Tony was not in bed, the lights to his on suite was on and Taeyong simply shuffled further under the covers. He looked up at the ceiling and tried to perk his ears, to hear the almost silent buzz of energy in the air. Taeyong instead heard his dad's voice, on the phone with Pepper, he suspected.
"It's my fault Pep... Ultron- I created him. I don't- I saw... I know..."
Taeyong turned around and lifted his legs, dragging the covers under them, tucking himself in. He pressed his face against his dad's pillow, inhaling his mucky cologne.
"I don't know what to do right now... Are you disappointed in me?"
"I am too... I'll call again tomorrow. I love you?"
Taeyong didn't even pretend to be asleep when his dad entered the room again. He looked up, chin and mouth covered by the duvet. "Hey," he croaked.
Tony looked at Taeyong and gave a worn out smile, "you have got to learn to sleep on your own."
"I have," Taeyong argued back, yawn cutting him off. "This is a special occasion." He sighed as Tony slipped under the covers, staying on Pepper's side of the bed. "S'not everyday I make an evil robot that wants the Avengers dead."
"We make an evil robot."
Taeyong nodded, shifting so he faced his dad. He lifted the duvet until it covered his nose and burrowed deeper into the pillow. "G'night dad," he whispered.
"Night bud."
"I love you," Taeyong said firmly, already succumbing to his exhaustion. He felt his dad's arm cover his body and then the same 'I love you' whispered back.
NEXT TIME ON: Dawn of New Change
Taeyong looked up with wide, doe eyes when everyone stopped their shuffling. "What?"
Natasha cleared her throat, "s' a good thing you're one of the good guys, Yong-ah. You have the potential to be a very good supervillain y'know?"
Taeyong grinned, "thanks."