Ultron has been going on about vibranium. It is the one thing he 'needs'.
He says he needs it for bodies and weapons, but I don't think that's the whole reason.
Then again, I'm the only one bothered by this so I keep my mouth shut.
Finally, or more accurately a few days after meeting Ultron, he found someone who has it.
Ulysses Klaue.
He had stolen it from Wakanda and was harboring it, along with his men and a bunch of other equipment, in a salvage yard off the African coast.
All the ships there were stranded in mud. The water was either drained or dried up from this place, but I didn't really care.
We left to go find him.
* * *
We stood at the edge of the salvage yard. I got up as close as I could before scanning each ship for people.
I was immediately drawn to one ship in particular, 'CHURCHILL' from Great Britain. I closed my eyes and focused on that one.
Turns out I was right, as usual.
Inside was what must have been close to 20 or 30 men. Plus, I could feel the vibranium. I think it's because vibranium is such a powerful metal.
I opened my eyes and pointed to the Churchill ship. "That one."
Pietro zoomed me and Wanda inside while Ultron planned on going in through the back.
Pietro got us inside and we hid in a back corner. I looked around quickly before pointing up at Klaue. "There. In the clear office box." I whisper to the two.
Wanda then turns and uses her energy to shut the power off through the whole ship. Pietro zooms off to the office box while me and Wanda run at a regular speed to get up there.
Wanda and I hear a gunshot, but when we walk in Pietro is standing, arms crossed while bullets line the counter in a neat row, gun on the desk.
"Yaha, the enhanced. Strucker's prized pupils."
Klaue crosses his arms and pulls his confidence back from Pietro's stunt.
He smiles, flashing his gold tooth, while sitting down. "Candy?" he asks, kind of in a mocking way, jiggling a bowl of candy around.
We all just stare at him and he puts it down.
"I'm sorry to hear about Strucker. But then, he knew what kind of world he was helping create. Human life, not a growth market." He says smiling again.
I furrow my eyebrows.
Was he talking about the fact that he was locked up, or was he saying that he was dead? Or was he talking about something else completely?
I look to Pietro and Wanda and see that we all have the same kind of confused look on our face.
"You didn't know?" Klaue asks and I look back at him. I then remember hearing the bang as I left. Ultron must have killed him.
I didn't want Strucker killed, I had wanted him to have to live the way I have to, with no past.
But I guess what Ultron did was less cruel.
Of course from what I heard about Klaue, he likes to bend the truth here and there. As one does. So I don't know if he's actually referencing something else
I have no clue what that could be though.
"Is this your first time intimidating someone? I'm afraid, I'm not that afraid." He says holding his arms out and shrugging.
"Everybody's afraid of something." Wanda says stepping forwards, getting closer to him.
"Cuttlefish." He says pointing towards Wanda. I tilt my head in confusion towards the man.
Sure, I could make him scared, but that's not what I was here to do.
"Deep sea fish." He says nodding. "They make lights, disco lights. Whom, whom, whom. To hypnotize their prey." Klaue says moving his hand in a Pack-man motion.
"And they WHOM!" He says swiping his arm. "I saw a documentary, it was terrifying."
I look over to Pietro and see that he's eyeing the candy bowl and I roll my eyes.
He speeds over to it and then suddenly is standing back next to me, opening the candy wrapper and popping the hard candy into his mouth.
Klaue looks at him, confused, before turning his head back to Wanda and I.
"So if you're going to fiddle with my brain, and make me see a giant cuttlefish, then I know, you don't do business."
I look over to Wanda and see her neck tensing up. I know she doesn't like it when people undermine or make fun of her abilities.
"And I know, you're not in charge. And I only deal with the man in charge." He says standing back up. I just smirk at him as I see Ultron fly up behind the window.
One second he's in his office. The next he's on the ground down below.
Ultron towers over him with Wanda, Pietro, and I watching from behind.
I can now sense the fear all over Klaue. "There is no man in charge." Ultron says before lowering down so that their faces are almost touching. "Let's talk business."
Klaue vigorously shakes his head yes. I giggle and walk up to him around Ultron's shoulder.
I create a small ball of fire and float it towards him. "Whom, whom, whom." I say making the same noises he made earlier.
He looks at me terrified and I shake my head, making the light disappear.
* * *
Klaue leads all of us to a storage container, one of his men helping. The new guy opens the compartment to reveal barrels labeled 'toxic waste'.
The man presses a button and they begin to move down, like an elevator, and the vibranium lowers down to our level.
"On this rock, I will build my church." Ultron says as Klaue, very reluctantly, hands him the metal tube filled with vibranium.
Wanda, Pietro and I are all standing next to the vault with Ultron.
"Vibranium." Ultron says aloud, then tosses it to Pietro. It makes a strange whirring noise every time it moves, and that's when I feel it's energy the most.
"You know, it came at great, personal cost." Klaue says rubbing his neck. "It's worth billions."
Ultron laughs and then closes his eyes, and I know he's doing something via the internet. I just lean on Pietro's arm to look at the vibranium.
"Now so are you." Ultron said, opening his eyes. The assistant's phone started ringing and they both looked over at it.
"It's all under your dummy holdings? Finance is SO weird." Ultron says shaking his head and looking at us.
I jump off Pietro's arm and stand, ready for them to lash out.
"But I always say, keep your friends rich and your enemies rich and wait to find out which is which."
My head shoots up to Ultron when he says that. I recognize that saying. I know I've heard it before I just know it.
"Stark." I hear Klaue say and when I look over to him I see both him and his assistant staring at Ultron in confusion.
Ultron looks down at him. "What?" He says with anger lacing his voice.
While I know he hates the avengers, he holds a whole other type of hatred for Stark.
"Tony Stark used to say that. To me. Your one of his." He says, not as a question.
"What? I am not." He says grabbing Klaue's arm. His assistant pulls his gun out but Wanda uses her magic to hold it down.
I can see Wanda and Pietro shooting looks at Ultron, and I'm wondering the same thing. Out of all things, why would he choose to say that?
Or was involuntary?
"I am not." Ultron basically growls in his face.
"You think I'm one of Stark's puppets, his hollow men? I mean look at me, do I look like Iron Man!" Ultron says, raising his voice. "Stark is nothing!" He lashes out, hitting Klaue's arms and chopping it clean off.
I put my hand over my mouth to keep myself from screeching and the twins both have shocked looks on their faces.
Klaue gasps and pants, stumbling backwards towards the stairs, his arm basically smoking.
Well, not his arm. Whatever was left of his shoulder.
"I'm sorry, I'm-oooh, I'm sure that's gonna be ok. I'm sorry, I just don't understand." Ultron said sounding sincere at first, but then slowly turning back to anger. "Don't compare me with Stark!" He says shouting again, before kicking Klaue's jaw, which sends him tumbling down the stairs.
Ultron continues talking while Klaue's assistant runs after him.
"That's a thing with me, Stark is, he's a sickness!"
"Ah junior." I hear from behind me and I recognize the voice immediately.
We all turn around to see him flying down, with Captain America and Thor walking up behind him.
"You're gonna break your old man's heart." Stark says as he lands.
Pietro throws the vibranium down to the floor and we all go into battle mode.
"If I have to." Ultron says back.
"Nobody has to break anything." The god of Thunder says.
"Clearly you've never made an omelet." Ultron says and I smirk.
"He beat me by one second." Stark says annoyed. Thor just gives him a look and I try to ignore the banter, but I can't help rolling my eyes.
"Aah this is funny, Mr. Stark." Pietro says walking up to Ultron.
I let my eyes glow white and feel around. I sense two other people have entered the boat and I subtly tap Wanda twice on the wrist so she knows.
"It's what, comfortable?" Pietro says, gesturing around us as my eyes return to their normal shade of green.
I can sense the Captain looking at me but I don't bother to look back at him.
"Like old times?" Pietro says looking down at the missiles right below us.
"This was never my life." Stark says looking around the room.
"You three can still walk away from this." America says stepping forward.
"Oh, we will." Wanda says with a mock smile and a nod.
"I know you've suffered-" He starts but Ultron cuts him off by making a long blaaah sound.
"Captain America." He says shaking his head. "God's righteous man. Pretending you could live without a war. I can't physically throw up in my mouth but-" Ultron was then interrupted from his fake vomit by Thor.
"If you believe in peace, then let us keep it."
"I think you're confusing peace with quiet." Ultron says taking a step forward.
"Ya-huh. What's the vibranium for?" Stark says.
I feel like it's my turn to step in because I haven't said anything yet so I go for it.
"Why thank you for asking Stark, because now we're going to take the time to explain our elaborate plan to you." I say smirking.
He just looks over at me and stares for a few seconds. I let myself reach into his suit and feel his emotions.
There's confusion and, huh, sadness? Guilt?
"Evelyn?" He says quietly, almost like he's afraid to say it out loud.
I quickly snap out of it, my eyes focusing tightly on the metal face, almost like I'm daring him to say it again. Just in case I misheard.
My mouth opens and I'm about to say something when Ultron fist glows blue and pulls Iron Man towards him, before blasting him with his finger lasers.
At the same time, Ultron's robot clones come out and start attacking the other Avengers.
The blast sends Iron Man flying back into a wall. He quickly gets up and flies straight at Ultron. The two wind up hitting each other in the air and rolling off.
I watched Iron Man and Ultron tussle with each other, until there was a large crash that nearly blasted my eardrum.
I look back to what's in front of me to see Pietro running off, while Thor and Captain America are still standing in front of Wanda and I.
Great.
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