So, I've decided that each time I update this, I'll update two chapters at a time. That way, I can get through this faster. Otherwise, I'll probably get through two books in each series before this is done.
Anyway . . . the science bros attempt to create Ultron, and there's a party going on in the tower! What happens when Ultron crashes it?
***
Bruce stared at Tony. "I thought Ultron was a fantasy!"
"Yesterday, it was," Tony nodded. "If we can harness this power, apply it to my Iron Legion protocol – "
"That's a mad-sized if."
"Our job is if," Tony retorted. "What if you were sipping margaritas on a sun-drenched beach turning brown instead of green? Not looking over your shoulder for VERONICA."
"Don't hate," Bruce narrowed his eyes. "I helped design VERONICA."
"As a worst-case measure, right? How about a best-case? What if the world was safe? What if next time aliens roll up to the club – and they will – they couldn't get past the bouncer?"
"The only people threatening the planet would be people?"
"I want to apply this to the Ultron program, but JARVIS can't download a data schematic this dense," Tony waved at the program. "We can only do it while we have the scepter here. That's three days. Give me three days."
Bruce fidgeted. "Shouldn't we ask the Doctor?"
"I'll give it to Jessie, she found a good man, but no," Tony shook his head. "We can do this by ourselves."
"So you're going for artificial intelligence, and you don't want to tell the team?"
"Right. That's right. You know why. Because we don't have time for a city hall debate. I don't want to hear 'the man was not meant to meddle' medley. I see a suit of armor around the world."
Bruce sighed. "Sounds like a cold world, Tony."
"I've seen colder. This one, this very vulnerable blue one? It needs Ultron. Peace in our time. Imagine that."
***
Days later, and they were still nowhere in figuring out Ultron. "What did we miss?" Tony sighed, scratching his head, alone in the lab.
"I'll continue to run variations on the interface, but you should probably prepare for your guests," JARVIS said. "I'll notify you if there are any developments."
"Thanks, buddy," Tony patted a computer surface.
"Enjoy yourself, sir."
"I always do."
***
"What did we do to deserve this?" the Doctor sighed as he looked out over Tony's party.
"We helped them get Loki's scepter," Jessie shook her head, smiling in amusement at the Doctor's worry. "It won't hurt. Just don't start doing your drunk giraffe."
"Well, you know, the suit can take the weight, right?" Colonel James Rhodes was saying as the Time Lords approached the group in the corner. "So I take the tank, fly it right up to the General's palace, drop it at his feet, I'm like, 'Boom! You looking for this?'" Tony and Thor just stared at Rhodey in confusion, Jessie snickering. "'Boom! Are you looking . . . '" Rhodey trailed off, then huffed. "Why do I even talk to you guys? Everyone else, that story kills."
"That's the whole story?" Thor asked.
"Yeah, it's a War Machine story," Rhodey nodded.
"It's decent," the Doctor nodded. "Granted, no aliens, but good story."
Rhodey frowned. "And who're – ?"
"Right, you never were introduced," Tony grinned. "Rhodey, you remember Jessie."
"Jessie . . . what?" Rhodey gawked.
"Jessie Nightshade 3.0," Tony clapped Jessie on the shoulder. "She's an alien now."
"Excuse me, she's only half alien," the Doctor frowned at him.
"And her husband's completely alien," Tony rolled his eyes. "That's the Doctor."
"Hi, Rhodey," Jessie grinned. "I didn't die at Canary Wharf."
"Oh, my God," Rhodey stared at her before grinning and giving her a hug. "Good to see you alive, J."
"Good to see you not dead yet."
"Doctor, right?" Rhodey held out his hand to the Doctor.
"Yes, that's me, I'm the Doctor," he confirmed, shaking his hand. "Or John Smith. Or get off this planet. Or – "
"So!" Jessie said loudly, and the Doctor took his cue to stop talking. "Pepper's not coming?"
"No," Tony shook his head.
"Hey, what about Jane?" Maria turned to Thor. "Where are the ladies, gentlemen?"
"Well, Ms. Potts has a company to run," Tony shrugged.
"Yes, I'm not even sure what country Jane's in," Thor admitted. "Her work on the convergence has made her the world's foremost astronomer."
"And the company that Pepper runs is the largest tech conglomerate on Earth," Tony nodded. "It's pretty exciting."
"Conglomerate," the Doctor grinned at Jessie. "Love that word."
"I know you do, dearie," she patted his arm.
"There's even talk of Jane getting a, um," Thor tried to think of the word. "Uh . . . "
"Nobel Prize?" Jessie suggested.
"That," Thor pointed to her.
"Yeah," Maria tried not to laugh. "They . . . they must be busy because they'd hate missing you guys get together."
"Testosterone!" Jessie had a coughing fit suddenly, and Maria snorted loudly.
"Bad Wolf!" Martha walked up, a smile on her face. "Doctor, there's someone Steve and I want you to meet."
"See you," Jessie smiled at Rhodey before following Martha up the steps.
Steve was in discussion with another black man. "Sounds like a hell of a fight," the black man was saying. "Sorry I missed it."
"There you are," Steve turned as Martha came up with the two Time Lords. "Doing all right, J? Doctor?"
"We're good," Jessie smiled. "Who's your friend?"
"Sam Wilson," the man held out a hand. "You must be the Bad Wolf, then. These two talk about you a lot. Is it Bad Wolf, or do you prefer Jessie?"
"Really depends on how you met me," Jessie smirked. "This is my husband – "
"The Doctor," Sam finished, shaking his hand as well. "It's hard to get these two to be quiet when you're involved."
"Hopefully only good things," Jessie gave Martha a look.
She looked back innocently. "When have I ever said anything bad about you? You're my best friend."
Jessie laughed. "Back atcha."
"You're helping find Bucky, aren't you?" the Doctor asked Sam curiously.
"We've been trying to," Sam looked at Steve. "But then these two got into a firefight."
"Actually, I stayed here," Martha raised a hand.
"If I had known it was going to be a firefight, I absolutely would have called you," Steve looked back at Sam.
"No, I'm actually not sorry," Sam snorted. "I'm just trying to sound tough. I'm very happy chasing cold leads on our missing person case. Avenging is your world. Your world is crazy."
"It's mad," Martha agreed.
"Mad man in a box," Jessie pointed to the Doctor.
"That's me!" he held his arms out with a wide grin.
"No kidding," Steve snorted.
"You find a place in Brooklyn yet?" Sam asked.
"We're still figuring out where we're going," Steve looked at Martha. "Be it with SHIELD, here at the Tower, somewhere in London, maybe."
"Well, home is home, you know," Sam shrugged.
***
"I gotta have some of that!"
Saleen frowned and approached Thor and Steve, Thor pouring something from a flask into two glasses. "What is this?"
"This was aged for a thousand years in the barrels built from the wreck of Brunhilde's fleet," Thor answered, handing a glass to Steve. "It's not meant for mortal men."
"Neither was Omaha Beach, blondie," one of the party guests snorted. "Stop trying to scare us. Come on."
"All right," Thor said reluctantly, pouring another glass.
"Ten bucks says he's out," Saleen whispered to Steve.
"Done," he answered.
Only a few sips passed by, and the guest was being dragged off, whispering "Excelsior!" constantly. "You owe me ten," Saleen smirked at Steve.
***
Bruce was watching as Natasha worked on a drink behind the bar. "How did a nice girl like you wind up working in a dump like this?" Bruce asked her.
"Had to cover for a friend," she shrugged. "Fella done her wrong."
"She got lousy taste in men, then," Bruce shrugged.
Natasha gave him a look. "He's not so bad. I've met the guy. He has a temper. Deep down, he's all fluff. Fact is, he's not like anybody we've ever known. All our friends are fighters. And here came this guy, spending his life avoiding the fight because he knows he'll win."
"Sounds amazing."
"He's also a huge dork," Natasha quipped. Bruce started, seeming to realize what she was getting at, then blushed. "Chicks dig that," she winked. "So what do you think? Should she fight this, or run with it?"
"Run with it, right?" Bruce asked. "Or, did he . . . was he . . . ? What did he do that was so wrong to her?"
"Not a damn thing," Natasha rolled her eyes. Really, Bruce was just left in the dark. "But, never say never."
Bruce heard snickering as Natasha left, and he turned to see the Doctor was shaking his head as he walked up. "Oh, am I going to get a talk from you now?" Bruce sighed. Just what he didn't need.
"Oh, I wish," the Doctor sat down next to him with a grin. "I don't know if I can top that. But what Nat's getting at . . . please. Anyone can see the way you look at Sally – "
"Saleen," Bruce grumbled.
"Yes, yes, you know what I mean," the Doctor waved a hand. "And I've seen how she looks at you. As the authority on holding off for too long – and I nearly got my wife killed because of that – don't. Why don't you both win for a change?"
He left to find Jessie again, leaving Bruce pondering that for the rest of the party.
***
"But it's a trick!" Clint complained as Thor set his hammer down on the coffee table.
"Oh, no," Thor chuckled, sitting down next to the Doctor, Jessie sitting as close to him as she could without sitting on his lap.
"Uh, 'whosoever be he worthy shall haveth the power?'" Clint snorted loudly, twirling a drumstick in his fingers. "Whatever, man! It's a trick!"
"Well, please," Thor held out a hand to his hammer. "Be my guest."
Clint's eyebrows shot up, and Tony laughed. "Come on!" he encouraged Clint.
"Really?" Clint looked at Thor.
"Yeah," Thor nodded with a smirk.
"Oh, this is gonna be beautiful," Rhodey chuckled as Clint stood.
"Clint, I understand, you've had a tough week," the Doctor held up his hands, "so we won't hold it against you if you can't lift it."
Clint gave him a nasty look as the others laughed. "You know, I've seen this before, right?" He tried to lift the hammer, and Jessie giggled hysterically into the Doctor's shoulder, the Time Lord grinning smugly as Thor laughed. "And I still don't know how you do it."
"Smell the silent judgement?" Tony smirked.
"Please, Stark," Clint held out a hand. "By all means."
Tony put down his bottle of beer and stood, dusting off his hands. "Oh, here we go," Natasha muttered to Saleen.
"OK," Maria leaned back to watch, Clint returning to sit by her.
"Never one to shrink from an honest challenge," Tony stepped up.
"Get after it," Clint rolled his eyes.
"Here we go," Martha leaned back, swirling the wine in her glass around as she watched.
"It's physics," Tony tried to explain.
"Physics?" Bruce snorted.
"Right, so, if I lift it, I . . . " Tony turned to Thor. "I then rule Asgard?"
"Yes, of course," Thor nodded, somehow managing to keep a straight face even as Jessie kept giggling.
"I will be re-instituting Prima Nocta," Tony decided, trying to lift the hammer. When he failed to do so, he cleared his throat. "I'll be right back."
Jessie was still laughing when Tony failed to lift the hammer, even with using some of his armor. Then he dragged Rhodey into it. "Are you even pulling?" Rhodey asked.
"Are you on my team?" Tony glared.
"Just represent! Pull!"
"All right. Let's go!"
Bruce, after they failed, was the next to go. He yelled a few times, obviously trying to turn into the Hulk, when Jessie raised a finger. "Didn't you fail to lift the hammer when you were the Hulk before?"
"Captain, why don't you try?" the Doctor turned to Steve.
Steve shrugged and stood up to do so. "Let's go, Steve, no pressure," Tony encouraged as Steve grasped the hammer with both hands.
When Steve pulled, the hammer budged just slightly. Martha's eyes brightened in delight, and Thor actually looked slightly scared. But Steve failed to lift it, and Thor laughed in relief. "Nothing."
"And?" Tony looked around.
"Widow?" Bruce looked at Natasha.
"Oh, no, no, no," Natasha shook her head. "That's not a question I need answered."
"Come on, Jessie, you give it a go," Tony said.
"No," she deadpanned.
"Doctor?" Martha tilted her head.
"I'll pass on that one, thank you," the Doctor shook his head. "I let my wife tell me what I am and just roll with it."
"And trust me, you don't want to know what I call him," Jessie smirked.
"God!" Saleen groaned, burying her face in her hands as the Time Lords laughed loudly, the others seeming to understand what they were getting at. "I preferred it when you two did not flirt for your lives."
"Well, what's the fun otherwise?" the Doctor grinned.
"All deference to the man who wouldn't be king, but it's rigged," Tony told Thor.
"You bet your ass," Clint confirmed.
"Steve?" Maria held up a hand. "He said a bad language word."
Martha raised an eyebrow, looking at her husband. "Is there something I should know?"
"How did she not know about that?" Tony looked around.
"You're welcome," Jessie leaned back.
"The handle's imprinted, right?" Tony asked. "Like a security code. 'Whosoever is carrying Thor's fingerprints' is, I think, the literal translation?"
"Yes, well, that's, uh . . . that's a very, very interesting theory. I have a simpler one." Thor stood up, picked up the hammer like it weighed nothing, and flipped it in the air. "You're all not worthy."
The Avengers all started arguing, when a loud screeching noise hit the room. Jessie doubled over, her hands over her ears, and the Doctor looked around for the source of the noise. "Worthy," a low robotic voice growled, and they looked up as a ragged-looking Iron Legion suit staggered up, cables trailing behind it. "No. How could you be worthy? You're all killers."
"Stark?" Steve slowly turned to Tony.
"JARVIS?" Tony asked, looking around and trying to find his phone.
"I'm sorry, I was asleep," the robot looked around. "Or . . . I was a dream?"
"Reboot Legionnaire," Tony tapped his phone. "We got a buggy suit."
"There was a terrible noise," the suit tried to figure something out. "And I was tangled in . . . in . . . strings. I had to kill the other guy. He was a good guy."
"You killed someone?" Steve asked sharply, standing up in front of Martha as she slowly scooted back onto the couch.
"Wouldn't have been my first call," the robot said as Maria turned slightly, blocking the robot's view of her taking out her gun. Jessie curled her hand into a fist, her hand sparking with electricity as the Doctor stood, silently sliding his sonic screwdriver down his sleeve. "But, down in the real world, we're faced with ugly choices."
"Who sent you?" Thor asked.
The robot tilted its head, and a familiar voice played out. "I see a suit of armor around the world."
Tony blanched, and the Doctor turned to him sharply. "What did you do while I wasn't working with you?" he asked.
"Ultron!" Bruce breathed.
"In the flesh," the robot would have smirked. "Or, no, not yet. Not this . . . chrysalis. But I'm ready. I'm on a mission."
"What mission?" Natasha stood up.
"Peace in our time," Ultron answered simply.
The Iron Legion suddenly smashed through the window wall, and Jessie stood up, blasting Ultron back with a wave of electricity. The Doctor ran over to Martha and Dr. Cho, dragging them behind a few of the couches so they wouldn't be hit. Saleen formed a quick ice wall before one of the Iron Legion hit her, but someone suddenly flung her out of the way before they broke through. She gasped, looking up to see who had gotten her. "Sorry!" Bruce apologized.
"Don't turn green," she warned.
"I won't!"
"What the hell did that robot do to these things?" Jessie shouted, hacking away at some of the robots with one of her swords.
"I don't know!" the Doctor flipped one over his shoulder, then sonicked another, stopping it in its tracks.
"Stark!" Steve bellowed, wrestling with one of them.
"We are here to help," the Legion kept saying.
"One sec, one sec!" Tony called back, tapping furiously away on his phone.
"We are here to help. We are here to help. We are here to help. It's unsafe. It's unsafe. It's unsafe."
"That's the one!" Tony tapped something.
The Iron Legion began shutting down. "Cap!" Clint stood, tossing Steve's shield across the room.
Steve used it to dismember the last Legionnaire standing. "That was dramatic!" Ultron laughed, returning with Loki's scepter in his hand. "I'm sorry. I know you mean well. You just didn't think it through. 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 picked up one of the Legionnaires, examining it. "With these? These . . . puppets? There's only one path to peace." He crushed the head of the Legionnaire. "The Avengers' extinction."
Thor threw his hammer at Ultron, and the robot exploded into pieces. However, as he called it back, Ultron's voice continued singing. "I had strings, but now I'm free. There are no strings on me. No strings on me."
The Doctor looked at the destroyed Ultron, then slowly turned to look at Tony. "What, exactly," he asked in a deadly calm voice, "did you create?"
"Or try to?" Jessie glared at him, folding her arms.
Tony cringed. When Jessie used a voice like that, he knew he was in trouble. With the Doctor, it was almost worse.
***
And it all hits the fan. Yikes. O.O Stark . . . better run.
So the Doctor and Jessie are definitely involved now. I'll try and get another update in before the day is done.