The party lasted well into the early hours of the morning. Eventually, guests began to slowly leave. Some sobered up a bit, and others stumbled out feeling the buzz on the brain. As they said their goodbyes, the only ones left were those that actually lived in the tower along with James and Dr. Cho. Tony offered guest rooms for them to stay the night. But none were rushing off to bed. Not even Bruce, who willingly joined the team around the couches. It came as no surprise to Anya that he sat near Natasha. Steve continued to sip at a beer, the serum in his body warding off the buzz one would get from alcohol. The Asgardian drink Thor shared with him actually ended up giving him a slightly giddy feeling. He'd never felt that since his friend, Bucky, offered him a drink in their youth before enlisting in the army.
The god and Captain finished off the flask together throughout the night, but obviously the effects were wearing off now. Thor sat beside Anya, who nestled into his side comfortably. She kicked off the heels to further relax. Clint and James sat on the floor, talking to Maria. And Tony conversed with Helen about her latest medical advances. And somehow, through everyone's various conversations, and the few stories that brought them together to reminisce about past missions, their attention came to Thor's weapon of choice.
Mjolnir sat on the table. Had been most of the night after showing it off to the veterans when they expressed interest in the item. It sat out all night, but he wasn't worried about leaving it alone. After all, only the god was capable of picking it up.
"It's a trick," Clint stated. He had consumed his fair share of drinks, the archer motioning towards the weapon.
"No, no it's much more than that," Thor chuckled.
"'Ah, whosoever be he worthy shall haveth the power'," the archer spoke in an announcer tone. Everyone laughed. "Whatever, man! It's a trick!"
The Asgardian motioned towards Mjolnir to gladly offer it up. To prove them wrong. "Please, be my guest," he said.
Clint expressed some hesitance based on the smirk Anya sent him.
However, Tony egged him on naturally to give it a try, "Come on," and the agent stood.
Clint sent the empty beer bottle on the table, approaching the weapon. He stared at the handle for a moment before looking to Thor to confirm if he was okay with this.
"Really?" the archer asked.
Thor waved him on. All eyes were now on Clint. He rubbed his hands together in preparation.
"Oh, this is going to be beautiful," James muttered.
"Clint, you've had a tough week," Tony pointed out. "We won't hold it against you if you can't get it up."
Laughter filled the room from the jibe. The archer rolled his eyes and gripped the handle tightly.
"You know I've seen this before, right?" Clint pointed out to the god.
With a sharp tug and a grunt, the man began to pull. However, it didn't budge. When nothing happened, he gave up, chuckling.
"I still don't know how you do it!"
"Smell the silent judgment?" Tony teased.
Moving to the side, Clint presented Mjolnir to the billionaire to offer it up. "Please, Stark, by all means."
He didn't expect to be put on the spot. But not to be proven wrong, the man cleared his throat and stood. The group watched in amusement at the fact that the tables turned.
"Oh," Maria teased.
"Oh man," James added with a smirk.
"Never one to shrink from an honest challenge," Tony shrugged. As if it were no big deal.
Now it was Clint's turn to egg him on, "Go at it."
"It's physics." Looking at the relaxed god, he inquired, "Right, so if I lift it, I then rule Asgard?"
"Yes, of course," Thor answered.
He wasn't concerned in the slightest. Tony slipped his hand through the leather strap and prepared his stance.
"This is gonna be good," Anya muttered.
She felt tipsy, grinning up at the prince, who chuckled in response. He couldn't agree more.
"I will be reinstituting prima nocta," the billionaire declared.
And with a grunt he pulled up on the hilt. The strain became clear on his face, yet the object didn't move an inch. He stopped to collect himself, the group grinning wider at his misfortune. All were ready to heckle him when the billionaire held up a finger before that could unfold.
"I'll be right back."
No one really knew what he had in mind till a wall by the bar opened to reveal a hidden Iron Man suit. However, instead of climbing inside the full armor, he only took the right arm off from the elbow down. Flexing the fingers, he prepared himself for another attempt. The second try ended in failure as well. Thrusters didn't even work. He enlisted the help of James, who took off the same part of his stored away War Machine suit. Both of them gripped at the hilt and began to pull using their boosters for support. Yet still no movement.
"Are you even pulling?" James asked.
"Are you on my team?" Tony shot back.
The two shot a look at each other, not pleased with the fact that the others were snickering at their failure.
"Just represent. Pull."
"Alright. Let's go!"
The duo attempted a wide variety of techniques for a few minutes, but no such luck. The men grumbled to themselves when they returned to their seats.
Somehow, they convinced Bruce to give it a try. Taking the hilt in both hands he began to pull, even standing on the tabletop, knees bent. He yelled from the strain. But just like the others, there was no success. He let go, biceps flexed and still yelling. As if he were trying to mimic the Hulk in some way. Everyone looked at him quizzically. The noise died on his lips, trying to find a reaction from someone who thought he was being funny. No one laughed aloud though. Embarrassed by the display, the scientist sat back down.
Anya tried to not show her nerves on the couch. Every member of the team tried their hand at Mjolnir. Even Helen and Maria teamed up at some point in an attempt. But the young woman couldn't touch Mjolnir after what happened the last time she interacted with the weapon in Norway. Since then she tried to avoid getting too close to the object just to be safe. The agent didn't want the god to know. She had no way to explain how or why her ability to lift the hammer was possible. To suddenly display this 'gift' in front of the Avengers... that wouldn't be the smartest idea. She needed to think of a way to get out of this soon without drawing too much attention to herself. They were running out of teammates.
"Go on, Steve," Tony spoke up. "No pressure."
With a smirk and roll of his eyes, the Captain stood. He pushed up both sleeves, eyeing the hilt for a moment. His hands wrapped around the leather on the hilt.
"Come on, Cap," Clint encouraged.
The exposed muscles tensed, the man attempting to lift Mjolnir. To the surprise of those in the room, it actually shifted on the tabletop. Anya's eyes widened and the whole room grew silent. Thor's grin fell as he sat up a bit straighter on the couch. However, the hammer moved no further. The prince's smile returned almost in relief when the super soldier gave up.
"Nothing," Thor chuckled.
Though it was clear that he was a bit worried there for a second.
Bruce looked to Natasha and motioned towards Mjolnir, "And Widow?"
"Oh, no, no, no, that's not a question I need answered," the assassin pointed out. And she couldn't be swayed otherwise to try as she took a drink of beer.
"Mirage?" Maria asked. All eyes fell on the agent, who hummed in interest at the request. "You're the only one left."
"I'm with Nat on this one," the young woman said. "I already know the answer Mjolnir will give me."
"You sure?" Thor asked. He was kind of intrigued to see her try.
"Positive. Besides, I'm comfortable here."
She snuggled into his side to further drive home the point. The prince didn't complain, tugging her closer into him. Thankfully, no one continued to press the matter when Tony spoke up,
"All deference to the Man Who Wouldn't Be King, but it's rigged."
"You bet your ass," Clint agreed.
"Steve, he said a bad language word," Maria tattled with a grin, pointing at the archer.
A heavy sigh escaped the Captain's lips, head ducking for a second before shooting a look at the billionaire, "Did you tell everyone about that?"
But the man ignored the question, "The handle's imprinted, right? Like a security code? 'Whosoever is carrying Thor's fingerprints', is, I think, the literal translation."
"Yes, it's a very, very interesting theory," Thor confirmed. Standing, Anya gave a slight pout missing the comfort he offered. "I have a simpler one."
They all waited in anticipation when the Asgardian gripped the handle of Mjolnir, lifting it easily. He flipped it in hand to show off, throwing a smirk at the others and stated,
"You're all not worthy."
The group groaned in reply while Anya snickered. They should've expected that. Though that didn't seem to deter them as they continued to pry for more answers.
Feedback screeched through the speaker system in the room suddenly. They flinched from the noise, faces screwing up and covering their ears due to the onslaught. It cut out just as quickly as it began, a look of confusion shared between the team. They'd turned the music off nearly an hour ago. What triggered the system to do that?
"Wor... thy..." a voice groaned.
It belonged to none of them, looking towards the elevators over the couches. Something stood there hunched over, struggling to move. It hadn't been there before. As it shifted into the light all could clearly see it took the form of a half-made Iron Man suit. One from the Legion in the process of being repaired just a floor below.
"No." It turned to face them with glowing blue eyes. "How could you be worthy? You're all killers."
"Stark," Steve spoke tensely. The whole room was on edge from this party crasher. The Captain stood alongside Tony, Thor, and Bruce. The Asgardian moved slightly in front of Anya in a protective manner.
"J.A.R.V.I.S.," Tony called out. But no answer came from the AI. It left the group blind to what was going on.
"I'm sorry, I was asleep," the suit apologized. "Or I was a-dream."
"Reboot Legionnaire OS," the billionaire muttered under his breath. Holding up a pocket screen he looked for the system to comply. "We got a buggy suit."
Nothing. As if they were offline.
"There was this terrible noise," the thing continued. "And I was tangled in... in.... strings. I had to kill the other guy. He was a good guy."
"You killed someone?" Steve questioned gravely.
"Wouldn't have been my first call. But down in the real world we're faced with ugly choices."
"Who sent you?" Thor demanded to know.
"I see a suit of armor around the world," Stark's voice suddenly played back to them from the suit.
"Ultron," Bruce breathed out.
The name sounded vaguely familiar to a few, however, now was not the time to question the scientist for more information.
"In the flesh," the suit confirmed. That didn't sound good as the others exchanged a look. "Or no, not yet. Not this chrysalis. But I'm ready."
The Asgardian gripped Mjolnir tighter, Anya slipping a hand under the skirt of the dress. There was a strap wrapped around the upper thigh to conceal a small dagger. Beside her, Hill readied a gun out of sight and stood slowly. She gave Helen a look so the woman knew to move at a moment's notice since she was unarmed.
"I'm on a mission."
"What mission?" Natasha asked.
"Peace in our time."
The wall of glass paneling harboring suits from the legion behind the robot exploded and they came flying out in an attack. Agent Hill ducked behind the couches, taking Helen with her, while the others lunged out of the way. Steve kicked up the table to protect himself only for a suit to slam into the other side. The force knocked him into the ground.
"Anya!" Maria shouted.
"On it!" the agent yelled back. Gripping the doctor's wrist, she tugged the woman to her feet. "Run for that table and keep your head down!"
Gunshots rang out behind them when the two bolted. Helen ducked under the low table for cover, Anya close behind. But instead of remaining out of sight she reached underneath the hard surface to pull something free. A gun sat expertly hidden. One Dr. Cho hadn't initially seen in at first. The agent cocked the weapon before firing over the table towards a suit. The bullets that penetrated the neck area made it short circuit and crashed to a chair.
"Here, take this," the agent said. She shoved the dagger into the doctor's hand.
"What do I do with this?" Helen asked.
"You protect yourself any way possible." The crash of a suit only feet from them had her clutch the weapon tighter with a nod. "Stay here," she ordered.
Dr. Cho didn't need to be told twice.
Thor swung Mjolnir around and it collided with a suit. It flew across the room and shattered to pieces on impact. Tony and James rushed for their suits, but one slammed into the billionaire's side and sent him flying into a bookcase. Another shot at his friend. A blast hit the man in the gut and sent him crashing through a glass window towards the aircraft dock below.
"Rhodey!" Maria shouted.
She managed to move in the chaos, hunkered down behind the smaller bar for protection. Not receiving an answer, the woman looked for an opening of some kind to check on him. Yet it seemed impossible from the way the out of control suits moved about.
Killing off another robot, the Asgardian gave Clint the opportunity he needed to slide underneath a table for protection when a robot tried to take aim at the archer. Meanwhile, Bruce and Natasha ran across the lounge room towards the main bar. Without hesitation they lunged over the top to clear the other side. However, the scientist didn't get enough momentum and became stuck on the top. Shots hit the wall behind him shattering the lined-up alcohol bottles. Reaching up, the assassin gripped at Bruce's belt hauling the man to safety. His weight caused them to both fall heavily to the ground with the scientist's face between her breasts. Realizing immediately where he landed, Bruce pushed up on both elbows and instantly flushed.
"I'm sorry!" he exclaimed.
"Don't turn green," Natasha begged.
Because this would be a terrible place to do so given the lack of space and compromising position.
"I won't."
A glass panel above the lounge shattered, causing Anya to look up and see a suit in the possession of the scepter.
"Thor–!" but it was too late.
It flew towards the far windows overlooking New York City. She managed to get a shot in, but it only threw the target off course for a brief moment. This suit was more put together than the others swarming the room and wouldn't be easily destroyed. But that appeared to be a part of the plan since the whole team was distracted.
"Damn it!"
Natasha and Bruce pressed their backs against the inside of the bar, when something caught the agent's attention. Just under the bar where the glasses were housed was a hidden handgun. She ripped it from the strap and checked the clip to find that it was fully loaded. The second the gunshots disappeared she cleared the top to return fire. But they were still outnumbered and she ducked once more from a new barrage of blasts that hit the back wall.
Halfway across the room, Steve lunged over what remained of the couches. He latched onto the back of a Legion suit, shoving the blaster up towards the ceiling. To avoid it from shooting at anyone below. The robot attempted to shake the super soldier off, but his grip remained firm and unrelenting. The suit's thrusters turned, projecting them backwards into a wall. The force forced out all the air in Steve's lungs, his grip going slack and he fell to the ground roughly.
Natasha found an opening. With a tight grip on the scientist's dress shirt she jerked him out from behind the bar to rush for the stairs. They had to find higher ground. Arobot hovering in the room noticed their movements and set their sights on the team members. It took aim in order to cut them off. Tony noticed the threat and jumped from the top of a high table. An arm hooked around the neck of the suit in a choke hold causing it to wobble and miss its mark from the additional weight. Though unfortunately, the grip didn't have the same effect as it would on a human. The machine thrashed from the added weight. And even more so when the man shoved a screwdriver into the back of the neck. The main wire needed to be severed somewhere inside.
Thor was busy ripping apart machines using his bare hands. He switched between utilizing Mjolnir and the hand-to-hand tactic when useful. A pile of parts formed around the god's feet in the process. Meanwhile, Anya released mirages all around the room. With the scepter gone she had to make Thor aware of this development. She made the decision to leave Helen, but a mirage laced with the Aether remained behind for extra protection. Finally, she stood next to the Asgardian.
"We have a problem!" she shouted over the noise.
For a moment Thor worried she was injured. Though when the agent managed to flip a robot to the ground and snapped its neck from a quick movement, he realized that wasn't the case.
"The scepter is gone."
"How?" he wondered.
"A suit took it and flew out the window."
Looking across the room he saw the broken glass pane and wanted to rush out after the target. He refused to leave Anya, ripping Mjolnir out of a suit on the ground before throwing it. The hammer whizzed past the young woman's cheek, and she felt the gust of air that it produced, only for the weapon to smash a machine to pieces just behind her back.
Steve, who managed to regain his breath, ducked when a round of gunfire streaked across the wall. The suit struggling against Tony's hold was trying everything to get him off. It didn't matter who got caught in the crossfire as the super soldier noticed Maria take a flying lunge under the staircase in the nick of time.
"Stark!" he shouted.
"We are here to help," the suit began to speak in its animated voice.
"One sec," Tony muttered. Tinkering around the wires he looked for the one he needed. "One sec, I got this."
Thor tore open a suit, discarding the remains before setting his sight on another. However, the body wasn't completely dead from the way the top half turned its attention on a Dr. Cho, now hiding under the piano. She was petrified as the machine turned its blaster on her. The mirage noticed the suit and fired on the helmet of the robot. Though it wasn't as effective as a live bullet. It cracked the plate of the eyepiece and Anya rushed for the machine to eliminate the threat. For some reason, the suit shut down without warning. Instead of inflicting harm on the woman. The agent pressed the barrel of the gun to the back of its head just to be certain the enemy didn't come back and pulled the trigger.
Finally, the billionaire found the area he searched for. He shoved the screwdriver further into the back of the neck, severing the connection instantly. Both dropped to the ground heavily. The random blasts throughout the room ceased. It allowed Clint to rush out from a side room, the vibranium shield in his grasp.
"Captain!" the archer shouted.
The shield spun like a frisbee through the air straight into the super soldier's grasp. Steve set his sights on the final robot that flew through the room. Hurling the weapon, it sliced right through the metal and it fell to a heap on the floor. The room plunged into silence. Slowly, those hidden began to emerge throughout the space. Anya kept her mirages in place though. Just to be safe and certain there were no pieces of the legion crawling about.
"That was dramatic," Ultron spoke up. No one found the remark funny. "I'm sorry, I know you mean well. You just didn't think it through."
All were on guard despite the fact only one remained, not even capable of flying. However, it caused the assault without so much as lifting a finger. What stopped it from doing it again?
"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?"
The suit reached for a destroyed legion member at its feet to lift the shell up by the head for all to see.
"With these? These puppets."
Without any remorse, it crushed the head between its fingers and threw it to the side.
"There's only one path to peace. The Avengers' extinction."
Mjolnir flew through the air and shattered the suit where it stood. The group stared at the broken pieces frozen for a moment. The machine's words sunk in. But the robot wasn't done just yet, the glowing eyes flickering in and out.
"I had strings, but now I'm free," was the last thing it said. Finally, the light left its eyes.
The air was tense. Any remains of their carefree atmosphere only minutes ago were completely dashed. None of them were able to shake off what happened from the threat that lingered. The Avengers' extinction.
"What the hell was that?" Anya spoke up.
All eyes went on the billionaire and scientist demanding an explanation. Ultron had been their project shelved for over a year. The team didn't realize it was back in action till now. And nothing about it sounded promising.
"We need to go to the lab," Bruce stated.