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VALOR
ix. PEACE IN OUR TIME
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YOU'D BE SURPRISED AT how often Riley O'Dair was dragged off by Tony. You'd never think that a genius like him would need or want the company of a teenager, but the world surprised Riley every day.
She accompanied Tony and Bruce in the labs while Dr. Cho did her finishing touches on Clint's wounds. Originally, only Tony and Bruce were supposed to be working together in analyzing Loki's scepter, but given Riley extensive knowledge and ability to learn quickly, they decided to include her in their shenanigans at the last minute.
There wasn't much they knew about the scepter. The structural and compositional analysis lacked in information because the material was alien, meaning some elements were merely unquantifiable. All JARVIS could detect was that the jewel in the scepter was a protective housing for something inside—something powerful.
"Something powerful?" repeated Riley. "Like what? Because I'm telling you, this feeling I get when I'm near that thing," she nodded to the scepter, "isn't like anything I've ever felt before."
"Well, I can't help you there, but I think there's a code that can be ciphered from the jewel," revealed Tony. "We were wondering how Strucker got so inventive with it, so I've been analyzing the gem inside the scepter."
A golden 3D image of JARVIS's consciousness emerged before the trio. Riley found herself smiling at him. "'Sup, Vis?" she greeted.
"Miss Valor," politely returned JARVIS, greeting the two beside Tony."Doctor."
"Starting out, JARVIS was just a natural language UI. Now, he runs the Iron Legion," Tony reminded them. "He runs more of the business than anyone besides Pepper." Riley smiled at the memory of Pepper. She'd always liked Pepper. "Meet the competition." Another 3D image appeared. It was blue and much larger than JARVIS's consciousness. An otherworldly aura encased it.
"Holy shit," immediately breathed Riley. She walked around it, sharing a similar astonishment with Bruce. "That's what's inside the stone?"
"It's beautiful," Bruce said. Tony asked them what they thought the mass was doing, causing Bruce to approach it closer. "Like it's thinking. I mean, look at this thing! They're like neurons firing."
Riley agreed, "You can literally see the electrical impulses shooting through each junction."
"Mhm," returned Tony. "Down in Strucker's lab, I saw some fairly advanced robotics work. They deep-sixed the data, but... I gotta guess he was knocking on a very particular door."
Bruce quickly understood where this was going. He glanced back at Tony. "Artificial intelligence."
Tony walked toward Bruce, eager smiles on their faces. "This could be it, Bruce. This could be the key to creating Ultron," Tony encouraged.
Riley pinched her eyebrows together. "Ultron?" she repeated. "You mean that thing we were all talking about a few months ago? I thought that was a pipedream."
"It was," acknowledged Tony. "Yesterday. But what about today? If we can harness this power," he motioned to the blue mass of energy, "we could apply it to my Iron Legion protocol."
Bruce seemed to be a little more willing to weight out both sides. "That's a mad-sized "if"," he pointed out while removing his glasses. The three stepped away from the blue and gold clouds.
"Our job is "if"," returned Tony. "What if you were sipping margaritas on a sun-drenched beach turning brown instead of green? Not looking over your shoulder for VERONICA." VERONICA was a safety protocol designed for whenever Hulk couldn't be controlled.
"Don't hate, I helped design VERONICA."
"As a worst-case measure, right? How about a best-case?" Tony pitched. "What if the world was safe? What if the 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," Bruce realized.
Tony nodded. He was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet. He wanted—no, needed this to happen. Riley could sense it. She wondered why it was coming up again now.
Riley was more indecisive than Bruce about Ultron. Ultron was Tony's way of locking the door to Earth—no more aliens, no more intergalactic wars. She frowned at the idea of aliens returning to Earth, but then again, Riley had learned that not all aliens were bad after meeting Thor and Roman. What if they were closing the door to something that could end up helping the Earth more than they realized?
"I don't know," cut in Riley. "Shutting out the universe won't get rid of all of our problems."
"Not all of them. That's not what I'm striving for here. I want to apply this as a safety measure. That's what the Ultron program's all about," presented Tony. "But JARVIS can't download a data schematic this dense. We can only do it while we have the scepter here. That's three days. Give me three days."
Bruce peered back at Riley, who had her arms folded over her chest and shrugged. Meanwhile, Bruce was pretty much convinced. "So, you're going for artificial intelligence and you don't want to tell the team?" he asked.
"Right. That's right," confirmed Tony. "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."
Riley pressed her lips into a line. "But this isn't something like... deciding what color you should make your next suit," she gently argued. "You want to promote your Iron Legion to put up a picket fence around the world. That's going to affect a whole lot of people, isn't it? Shouldn't we want to talk this over with the others? We're a team, we're stronger united."
"Not a picket fence," Tony corrected. "I see a suit of armor around the world."
"My point still stands. I don't hate the idea, but... People are going to keep finding ways to run down the Earth. They experiment, they invent. That's how I was made, that's how Bruce and Steve were made. You can't stop society from growing," Riley insisted. She was the only one left who was unsure about Tony's proposal. "What if we're shutting the world out from other worlds that could make Earth better?"
"Maybe we are, but those worlds aren't my home," Tony replied. "This one, this very vulnerable blue one, is. It needs Ultron." He faltered. "...Peace in our time. Imagine that. C'mon, Tink, I need you on this. Are you with me?"
Riley couldn't decide. On one hand, Ultron's creation could protect the planet from future threats for years, maybe even forever; however, Riley didn't like that they were working on this project without telling the others. But, on the other hand, Riley's whole purpose in life was to protect the world. Wasn't this basically fulfilling that role? Maybe Ultron was a better idea than she thought... Still, something about it sounded dangerous to her...
But it wasn't like she could stop Tony. So, with a reluctant sigh, Riley got to work.
For the next three days, Riley assisted Bruce and Tony in their mission of bringing Ultron to life. They spent days and sometimes full nights working in the lab together. By the time three days had passed, they didn't seem to get anywhere. They just couldn't fasten a mechanism that supported the Ultron program.
Riley was relieved when their mission failed. Something about Ultron didn't sit right with her. She didn't think it was wise to shut the world out from the universe. She saw it as a way to control the people instead of helping them. Maybe that was just her inner Steve coming out, but Riley felt strongly about it. Tony invited Riley to see it as the opposite way, to see it as them shutting the universe out from their world, but she didn't see much of a difference either way.
Thankfully, all of that was over now. Tonight was Thor's big farewell party. Riley prayed that she wouldn't break down in tears after saying goodbye to Thor. He was family, after all, and Riley hated saying goodbye.
The idea of a party wasn't appealing to Riley. Don't get her wrong—Riley loved socializing and meeting people; however, the topic of her identity acted as a handicap for her. She never knew who she could trust these days.
The Avengers HQ was congested with heroes of all kinds, big and small, as well as friends of heroes: doctors, engineers, you name it. It was times like these where Riley questioned how Thor knew so many people.
Glasses clinked together, alcohol scathing the brims as upbeat music wandered in between the conversations of many. The women wore classy dresses and the men wore their nicest formal attire. It was strange for Riley to be surrounded by people when they were dressed so winsomely. She was used to blood and bruises, not lipstick and high heels.
Between Thor and Steve arguing over whether Riley should be allowed to drink alcohol and James Rhodes going around telling the people about his endless War Machine stories, Thor's farewell party turned out to be a success. Soon, the party guests faded out until all that remained were the original Avengers, Rhodey, Agent Hill, and Dr. Cho.
They gathered around the heart of the Avengers HQ, some sober, some tipsy, and others just a little drunk. These were some of the few moments in time where the Avengers could properly wind-down. Riley loved being able to be with the team like this.
"But it's a trick!" Clint shouted at Thor. Their current argument involved Thor and his mighty hammer. Clint was unconvinced that Thor's hammer could only be lifted by those who it deemed were worthy.
"I don't know why that's the only part that's bothering you, Clint. Thor's a literal God," admitted Riley. "The part that's bothering me is: Why a hammer? Why not something else? Do nails even exist in space?"
Thor just laughed. "Oh, no, it's much more than that. It's more than you humans could understand."
"Uh, Whosoever be he worthy shall haveth the power! Pfft, whatever, man!" quarreled Clint whilst spinning a pair of drum sticks in his hands. "It's a trick."
Riley giggled. "You're just upset because you know you're too weak to pick it up."
"You're too weak to pick it up," mocked Clint, causing Riley to stick her tongue out at him.
"Well, please," urged Thor, motioning to the hammer, "be my guest."
As Clint rose to perform his attempt of lifting the hammer, Tony taunted, "Clint, you've had a tough week. We won't hold it against you if you can't get it up." This caused laughter to blossom from the large group.
"You know I've seen this before, right?" Clint reached down to pick up the hammer, struggling and failing immediately. Laughter filled the headquarters as Clint shook his head and mumbled, "I still don't know how you do it."
Snickering, Riley revealed, "It's because he's got a twelve-pack instead of a six-pack. I bet you wouldn't know a thing about that!"
Clint rolled his eyes, returning to his seat. "You try it, oh so mighty Valor," he challenged.
Riley had always been competitive, not to mention the owner of a very large ego. That being said, Riley rose to her feet with a grin and declared, "Don't mind if I do!" Immediately, the group started calling out lighthearted taunts to the youngest, but Riley just brushed it off. "See, it makes sense that Clinty, here, couldn't do it. Girls rule and boys drool."
Steve glanced over at Tony. "Dear God, she's turning into you."
Tony shrugged. "I don't see how that's a bad thing." Of course, this caused everyone to shoot him a knowing look. "Oh, okay, I get it, blame Iron Man."
Riley stretched her arms out before bending down to lift the hammer. She narrowed her eyes at it when she realized she couldn't pick it up. She couldn't even make it budge. Riley straightened her back, staring at it while the others laughed at her failed attempt. This caused Riley to extend her arm, creating a forcefield around the hammer, and forcing it to levitate in the air.
Riley peered back at Thor. "That counts, right?" Of course, Thor just shook his head, causing her to groan in defeat. "You know what that sounds like to me?" She walked back to her seat and finished, "Nepotism!"
Tony just taunted, "Smell the silent judgment, Tink?"
The 14-year-old rolled her eyes. "Please, Gramps," encouraged Riley. "You try it. Unless your old people arthritis prevents you from doing that kind of stuff, of course."
"Please, Stark, by all means!" cheered Clint.
Tony just rose to his feet, placing his drink down. "Never one to shrink down from an honest challenge," he insisted. He made his way over to the hammer. Once he arrived, he slid his hand through the handle. "It's physics."
Riley made a face. "Physics isn't real, old man, get on with it!"
Ignoring Riley, Tony inquired, "So, what, if I lift it, I then rule Asgard?"
With a smile, Thor confirmed, "Yes, of course."
"I will be re-instituting Prima Nocta," mused Tony just before he attempted to lift the hammer. He managed to fail just as miserably as those who came before him.
A devious chuckle left Riley as she taunted, "You were saying?"
Tony shot her a weak glare. Then, he glimpsed back down at the hammer with an idea. "Be right back." Moments later, Tony returned with part of his Iron Man suit adorned on his hand. When he failed again, he had Rhodey join him with part of War Machine's suit.
"Are you even pulling?"
"Are you on my team?"
"Just represent! Pull!"
After them was Banner, who failed to lift it and also failed to prank everyone into thinking he was Hulking out. He was followed by Steve, who managed to budge the hammer, but failed, too. Riley wanted the Earth to swallow her whole when everyone started teasing her for blushing when she watched Steve. Thankfully, he didn't acknowledge it, but Riley was beginning to think he knew about her crush on him.
It truly was a sight watching all of the Avengers desperately try to lift the hammer (and seeing Thor's stress when Steve nearly pulled it off).
"All deference to The Man Who Wouldn't Be King," called Tony as he, Clint, and Bruce shared another drink, "but it's rigged."
"You bet your ass," Clint agreed.
Maria called, "Steve, he said a bad language word!" The others snickered shamelessly.
Sighing, Steve glanced back at Tony. "Did you tell everyone about that?"
"The handle's imprinted, right? Like a security code," speculated Tony. "Whosoever is carrying Thor's fingerprints, I think, is the literal translation."
"Yes, well, that's a very, very interesting theory, but I have a simpler one." Thor rose to lift his hammer, flipping it casually. "You're all not worthy."
Everyone erupted with groans and arguments of their own, only to be interrupted by a high-pitched squeal rippling throughout the room. Everyone went to cover their ears as Tony pulled out his portable device. From the depths of the shadows emerged an incomplete robot. It swaggered forward unsteadily, sparks flying off of it as it stood on a platform before them.
"Worthy..." repeated the robot. "No... How could any of you be worthy? You're all killers."
"Stark," Steve immediately called.
"Tony," Riley matched.
"JARVIS," Tony summoned, remaining calm despite everyone's reactions.
"I'm sorry," the robot apologized. It seemed to be ignoring them. "I was asleep. Or... I was a-dream?"
Tony tapped through his device. "Reboot Legionnaire OS. We got a buggy suit.".
"There was a terrible noise," continued the robot. "...and I was tangled in, in strings." It brought what looked like a hand to its head. The robot tugged on its dangling wires. "I had to kill the other guy. He was a good guy."
Alarm overrode the heroes. "You killed someone?" interrogated Steve.
"Wouldn't have been my first call, but down in the real world, we're faced with ugly choices," it confirmed.
Thor demanded, "Who sent you?"
"We're a team, we're stronger united," the robot recited in Riley's voice. Then, it switched voices to imitate Tony, "I see a suit of armor around the world."
"Ultron," Bruce realized, his eyes shifting to Tony and Riley. The girl watched the robot wide eyes.
"In the flesh," the robot confirmed. "Or no, not yet. Not this... chrysalis. But I'm ready. I'm on a mission." When asked what his mission was, Ultron revealed, "Peace in our time."
Without a second to spare, the Iron Legion smashed through the glass wall behind Ultron. Lasers fired at the heroes as they darted through the small room. Riley immediately raised a forcefield to protect herself, but the suits were too fast. With a gasp, Riley was pushed to the ground by one of the suits. Its hand was pushed against her face as it prepared to fire at her.
"Please back away. We are here to help," the droid stated.
Riley grunted, pushing it off of her by creating a forcefield in the midsection of its body. She took its arm and used it to fire at the other suits attacking them.
Riley ducked as Clint chucked Steve's shield through the HQ. She bit her tongue, refraining from commenting about how everyone got to throw that damn shield except her. The Avengers scattered, doing what they could to take down the remainder of the suits. Riley threw the robot arm in her hands off to the side when the fight ended. It seemed to have gone faster with so many heroes being gathered.
"That was dramatic," Ultron declared as the fighting ceased. Shattered glass crunched beneath the weight of the heroes as they stopped moving. "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."
Ultron paused, playing another recording of something Riley had said three days ago, "People are going to keep finding ways to run down the Earth. They experiment, they invent... You can't stop society from growing."
Ultron continued, "Maybe you should've listened to the young Valor. How is humanity saved if it's not allowed to evolve?" Ultron grabbed one of the destroyed suits around them, lifting its head. "With these? These puppets." Ultron was disgusted. "There's only one path to peace: The Avengers' extinction."
Riley flinched as Thor interrupted Ultron by throwing his hammer through it. The robot fell into tiny pieces on the floor, but Riley knew that Ultron was still out there. It was a program, not a being, after all.
She glanced back at the others. Her heart raced in her chest. That was certainly the last thing she'd been expecting.
In the next hour, tension continued to rise through the roof and into the celestial stars twinkling down at them. It was times like these where Riley wondered if the Avengers would ever get a break.
Everyone soon regrouped in the labs, clearly shaken up over what happened. The trio who had been behind Ultron's creation seemed to be the most troubled from Ultron's appearance, and with good reason. After all, their research didn't reach a definitive conclusion. How was any of this happening?
According to Bruce, all of their work was completely down the drain. Ultron cleared out and used the internet as an escape hatch. Ultron left the premises without a trace.
"He's been in everything," Natasha revealed as they all searched through the computers. "Files, surveillance. He probably knows more about us than we know about each other."
"He's in your files, he's in the internet. What if he decides to access something a little more exciting?" wondered Rhodey.
"Nuclear codes," Maria Hill realized.
"Nuclear codes," confirmed Rhodey. "Look, we need to make some calls, assuming we still can."
Riley shook her head. "We make some calls, and they just end up calling the Avengers. We have to figure this out ourselves."
Natasha folded her arms over her chest. "Nukes? He said he wanted us dead," she reminded them.
"He didn't say dead. He said extinct," corrected Steve. The burden of the situation hovered over their heads like a dark cloud.
"Didn't he say he killed somebody? Did anyone figure out who that was?" asked a rather worried Dr. Cho.
"There wasn't anyone else in the building," denied Maria.
"Yes, there was," Tony revealed. He brought up a dismantled 3D image of JARVIS's consciousness. The sight of it made Riley feel uneasy.
Riley marched toward it, eyes wide. "Ultron did this?" she demanded. It looked like JARVIS had been brutally murdered.
"JARVIS was the first line of defense," recalled Steve. "He would've shut Ultron down. It makes sense."
"No, Ultron could've assimilated JARVIS. This isn't strategy, this is rage," Bruce examined.
Thor, who had been out tracking the Iron Legion, seemed to be back, and boy, was he pissed. He marched forward and grabbed Tony by his throat, lifting him into the air. "Come on," choked out Tony. "Use your words, buddy."
"I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark," snarled Thor.
"Thor!" shouted Steve. "The Legionnaire?"
Dropping Tony, Thor continued to glare at the genius. "Trail went cold about a hundred miles out, but it's headed north," the God proclaimed. "And it has the scepter. Now, we have to retrieve it. Again."
Riley immediately leaned her head back, squeezing her eyes shut in annoyance. "The genie's out of the bottle," Natasha mumbled. "Clear and present is Ultron."
Dr. Cho stood near Ultron's dismantled body. "I don't understand," she confessed. "You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?"
Riley opened her mouth to explain how they couldn't have predicted this to happen, but she was cut off by Tony releasing a burst of loud laughter.
"You think this is funny!?" Thor growled.
Tony waved his hand. "No. It's probably not, right? Is this very terrible? Is it so... Is it so...? It is. It's so very terrible," he rambled through chortles.
Thor stepped forward and accused, "This could've been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand."
"No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry," Tony continued, his amused reaction becoming extremely serious within seconds. "It is funny. It's a hoot that you don't get why we need this."
"Tony, maybe this might not be the time to—"
"Really!?" Tony exclaimed, shifting his attention to Bruce. "That's it? You just roll over, show your belly, every time somebody snarls?"
"Only when I've created a murder bot," Bruce gently contended.
"We didn't," Tony shot back. "We weren't even close. Were we close to an interface?"
Steve crossed his arms. "Well, you did something right. And you did it right here," he snapped. "The Avengers were supposed to be different than S.H.I.E.L.D."
"S.H.I.E.L.D. was never S.H.I.E.L.D. in the first place," Riley argued. "It was always HYDRA. You take a bunch of people who started out with them, who don't know what the hell they're doing, something like this is gonna happen." She turned to Tony, disappointment on her face. "I told you we should've talked this through with the others."
Rather than acknowledging what the others were saying, Tony pointed up at the sky. "Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?"
Oh. So that's what this was about. Riley should've known that this wasn't just about protecting the Earth. Tony was terrified of space and what could come knocking at their door next. Of course, he wanted to shut them out. Riley felt a little stupid for not realizing it sooner.
"No, it's never come up," sarcastically said Rhodey.
"Saved New York?"
"Never heard that."
"Recall that?" Tony asserted. "A hostile army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing 300 feet below it. We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the livelong day, but that up there? That's the endgame."
Riley hated that this was what they were all arguing about: the safety of the world, their fear of aliens and war. They were missing the most important part.
"Who gives a damn about them?" Riley inquired, walking forward. "I'm genuinely asking. We were formed to protect the people, not live in fear. Why do we have to live in fear because of those guys?" She nodded to the sky in reference to outer space. "Why can't we turn it around on them? Why can't we be the endgame? We've fought them before, we can stop them again."
Tony shook his head. "How were you guys planning on beating that?" he demanded.
There was a pause as Steve stepped forward. "Together."
"We'll lose."
"Then we'll do it together, too," Steve fired back. "You heard Riley. We're stronger united. We're a team." Tony stared at him for a moment, jaw clenched, before turning away. Shaking it off, Steve continued, "Thor's right. Ultron's calling us out, and I'd like to find him before he's ready for us. The world's a big place. Let's start making it smaller."
So, in the end, Riley was right again. She was right about her worries regarding the scepter, she was right about how the team needed to stay united, and she was right about Ultron being a bad idea. But could the Avengers save the day against a constantly evolving program?
Riley thought so, but then again, there were only so many things she could be right about.