Far From Worthy
“Worthy,” a deep robotic voice chuckled, “No. How could you be worthy. You’re all killers.” Looking up, you stared as an armed legion suit sauntered a few feet away. “Stark,” Steve warns. “Jarvis,” Tony calls, messing with some flat device. By now the energy was overwhelming, but it wasn’t just from the scepter, it was also from this suit.
“I’m sorry I was asleep. Or I was a-dream,” the robot continued. “Reboot Legionnaire OS. We got a bugged suit,” Tony muttered to his screen. “Tony, I don’t think it’s bugged,” you whispered. The energy matched that of the scepter, meaning he had to be some sort of artificial intelligence.
“There was this terrible noise. And I was tangled in… In… Strings,” the suit claimed, gesturing to its body. “I had to kill the other guy. He was good guy.” “You killed someone?” Steve questioned, still not understanding what was going on. “Wouldn’t have been my first call. But, down in the real world, we’re faced with ugly choices.” Just like you, you thought to yourself as you eyed the suit warily. “Who sent you?” Thor demanded.
As if on cue, a recording of Tony’s voice played from the suit. “I see a suit of armor around the world.” “Ultron,” Bruce states, whatever the hell that was. “In the flesh. Or, no, not yet. Not this chrysalis. But I’m ready. I’m on a mission.” “What mission?” Natasha asked.
Gripping the handle of Mjolnir tighter, you stared at the deteriorating suit before you. “Peace in our time.” Before anything more could be asked, three iron legion suits flew out from the wall. Shifting your skin into adamantium, you threw the closest thing to you; which happened to be Mjolnir.
Decapitating the initial suit, you swiftly formed duel Desert Eagle .50 calibers; after a certain incident in Chile, you had grown fond of the handgun. As the others dove for cover, you stood in place. Shooting one of the suits in the back, you did your best to keep its attention from Clint; who was conveniently hiding underneath a table- unarmed.
“You really know how to throw a party Tony,” you sneered, jumping onto the rampaging suit’s back. “Yeah, well, I didn’t invite him,” he shot back helping Steve take down a different rouge member of the armed legion. Your smart remark was lost as the suit beneath you slammed its back into the wall- crushing you. “Son of a bitch,” you hissed, as one of the guns fell from your grasp.
Twisting around, you shoved a hand through the back of the suit; ripping its reactor out. As the hunk of metal collapsed, you managed to catch your balance. Glancing around, you realized the rest of the armed legion was destroyed- all except one.
“That was dramatic,” Ultron chuckled from a different body. “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?” Picking up the top half of a destroyed member of the legion, he continued. “With these? These puppets?” As he spoke, he easily crushed the head, throwing the mangled body down.
“There’s only one path to peace. The Avenger’s extinction.” His words must’ve hit a chord for before he could add on, Thor threw Mjolnir dead center into the robot. The robotic suit fell to pieces; the top half still functioning.
“I had strings, but now I’m free,” the suit sang before shutting down completely.
***
“All our work is gone,” Bruce confirmed, pacing back and forth in the lab. “Ultron cleared out. He used the Internet as an escape hatch.” “Ultron,” Steve scoffed. “He’s been in everything. Files, surveillance. Probably knows more about us than we know about each other,” Natasha added. “He’s in your files, he’s in the Internet. What if he decides to access something a little more exciting?” Rodney spats, clutching his arm from the previous fight.
“Nuclear codes.” “Nuclear codes,” Rodney reiterates, repeating Agent Hill. “Look we need to make some calls, assuming we still can.” “Nukes? He said he wanted us dead-” “He didn’t say “dead”. He said “extinct”,” Steve barked, cutting Natasha off. “He also said he killed somebody,” Clint pointed out. “There wasn’t anyone else in the building.”
“Who do you think? There was only one other person in the room with him,” you scoffed; amazed they couldn’t put two and two together. Pushing yourself off the wall, you walked towards the group. “Jarvis, the one who was supposed to inform us if anything went wrong. Yet, here we are; a rouge artificial intelligence let loose with one mission; wiping out the Avengers.” Glancing at Tony, you practically dared him to prove you wrong.
But he didn’t, he couldn’t. Walking to the center of the lab, he pulled the holographic remains of Jarvis up. The small orange flickering lights left everyone silent.
“What? This is insane,” Bruce muttered, walking up to the hologram. “Jarvis was the first line of defense,” Steve mumbled, only just realizing this himself. “He would’ve shut Ultron down. It makes sense.” “No, Ultron could have assimilated Jarvis. This isn’t strategy. This is… rage,” Bruce deducted.
“Nah shit!” You barked, infuriated at how redundant this whole thing was. “I knew the moment you and Banner walked up the stairs that you weren’t telling us everything. I might have been dragged into this, but I’m not an idiot. It wouldn’t have taken you days to simply analyze the scepter; you were trying to manipulate its power. You wanted to bring, this, Ultron to life.”
It made sense now. The look in their eyes, the waves of untamed energy; they were trying to do the impossible.
“What about you? You suddenly become metal,” Tony shot back, “and throw that damn hammer without a care in the world.” “I’m not obligated to tell you anything, I’m not an Avenger,” you hissed through clenched teeth.
Just calm down; think of Jesus or something. Don’t let your temper get the best of you. But seriously how stupid could he be?!
“What the hell were you thinking?!” You snapped, stalking over to the billionaire. “You’re not a god; you can’t control something like this.” “And you can?” “No, but I’m not stupid enough to try. Loki can barely control the power within that scepter and he is a god. And you... You think you can create a person out of it?!” Running your hands through your tangled hair, you sighed in defeat. “I should’ve stayed in that cell,” you muttered.
At least you weren’t the only one furious about the outcome. In walked Thor; who you would describe as utterly pissed but that would a complete understatement. Gripping Tony by the throat, he lifted him high into the air.
“Who, whoa, whoa!” Steve exclaimed, rushing over. “It’s going around,” Clint added. “Come on, use your words, buddy,” Tony managed, as Thor lifted him higher. “I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark.” Oh snap, using last names now. “Thor, the Legionnaire,” Steve barked, breaking Thor from his fit of anger.
Not-so-gently placing Tony down, he stated his findings. “Trail went cold about one-hundred miles out, but its headed north. And it has the scepter. Now we have to retrieve it, again.” The amount of distaste laced behind Thor’s words almost made you smile- almost.
“Genie’s out of that bottle. Clear and present is Ultron.” “I don’t understand.” Turning you realized it was Dr. Cho speaking up for the first time. “You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?” You watched as Tony’s body tensed up, only to break out laughing.
“You think this is funny?” Thor asked, still irked about losing his brother’s scepter. “No. It’s probably not, right? This is very terrible. Is it so…” Tony chuckled to himself, “Is it so… It is. It’s so terrible.” “This could have been avoided if you hadn’t played with something you don’t understand,” Thor began.
“No. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. It is funny. It’s a hoot that you don’t get why we need this,” Tony bit back. “Tony, maybe this might not be the time.” Bruce’s attempt to calm the situation was laughable. “Really? That’s it? You just roll over; show your belly every time somebody snarls?” “Only when I’ve created a murder bot.”
Doing your best not to add a sarcastic comment to the mix, you did a once over on the destroyed legion suits. You didn’t have time to sit here and point fingers, you needed to find Ultron and put a stop to this madness.
What was Ultron’s objective? Avengers. How did he plan to wipe them out? Unknown. What material would he need? Unknown, but there was no way he was going to manage this without an army. Where was he now? Unknown, but you’d bet your money on Sokovia.
“We didn’t. We weren’t even close. Were we close to an interface?” “Well, you did something right. And you did it right here,” Steve pointed out, “The Avengers were supposed to be different than SHIELD.” “Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?” “No, it’s never come up,” Rhodey stated, causing you to chuckle despite trying to block out their conversation.
“Saved New York?” “Never heard that.” “Recall that? A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We’re standing three-hundred feet below it. We’re the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the livelong day, but that up there, that’s… That’s the endgame. How were you guys planning on beating that?” “Together,” Steve put simply. “We’ll lose.” “Then we’ll do that together, too.”
“Glad to know how much faith you have in your teammates,” you scoffed, pulling yourself away from the scraps of metal. “Thor’s right. Ultron’s calling us out,” Steve went on, giving you a knowing look. “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.”
“Sokovia- that’s my guess anyways,” you called exiting the lab behind Natasha.