To the Galaxy Far, Far Away...
Infinity.
It’s a difficult concept to grasp.
There are infinite paths, and infinite possibilities.
It’s more than a linear path.
In the universe you know, history goes as follows. Captain America would become the first superhero in 1943. Tony Stark would be forged into the Invincible Iron Man in 2008. In 2011, the world would meet the Incredible Hulk, the beast in the body of Bruce Banner. Thor, the God of Thunder, would come from above. The spies, Natasha Romanov, the Black Widow, and Clint Barton, Hawkeye, would watch these developments. In the center of it all, was Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD. He had an idea. To bring together a group of remarkable people. To see if they could become something more. To fight the battles that humanity could not. And in 2012, when Loki invaded New York with an army of the alien race, the Chitari, a team was born. The Avengers assembled to defeat this invasion. They would assemble again to end the anti-freedom organization HYDRA. They fought against the mechanical menace Ultron, the A.I. who deemed life itself a threat to peace. They recruited Sam Wilson, the Falcon, Wanda Maximoff, James Rhodes, the War Machine, and the android Vision. The Avengers would then break up over the Sokovia Accords. New heroes such as the Amazing Spider Man, and the Black Panther. Then when Thanos came, and Humanity - no, the Universe, needed these heroes more than ever…they lost. Half of all life was erased from existence. The remaining heroes would bring back the vanished five years later, but at the cost of some of their beloved heroes.
At that same time, in a galaxy far, far away…the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Sideous, would orchestrate the Clone Wars. In the end, he would be the only victor. The Jedi Order would be decimated. The Separatists would be enslaved. The Republic would become the Galactic Empire. Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, the Chosen One, would fall to the Dark Side, and become Darth Vader.
But in this universe…one simple decision would change everything.
Ultron stared at the small glowing gem. He had just opened the orb in Loki’s Scepter. He was about to place it on the forehead of his future ultimate form. My Vision. But a stray thought had come to him. Why wait to use it? My code was based on this small, powerful rock. It almost has a will of its own. Perhaps it even has knowledge. Knowledge that I can use to improve my plans.
In the moment that it took to do so, Ultron made his decision. He placed the stone on the head of his future body. He plugged himself in, establishing a mental link. But instead of uploading his matrix, he accessed the yellow jewel. The machine’s mind was instantly overwhelmed by a bright yellow jewel.
Once it dimed, he appeared to be standing in the middle of Space. Ultron saw everything. Every planet, star, rock, and galaxy.
There are worlds beyond my own. Worlds that need…me.
Ultron took a look at everything in every direction, wondering where he should go after finishing his plan on Earth. Asgard? The Sovereign? Sakaar? Ego? Xandar? His thoughts were interrupted by a slight shimmer that caught his attention. Adjusting his vision to zoom in, or rather, zoom out, he noticed that he was in a strange barrier. A barrier that surrounded multiple galaxies. There were eight smaller galaxies orbiting a far larger one. The Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxies were two of them. But what truly interested Ultron, was that only two of these ten galaxies were inhabited!
Fascinating. This larger galaxy is very intriguing. That barrier could be a problem later, but I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. When the Avengers are extinct.
Ultron wanted to see more, but alas, he had higher priorities. He ended this vision, and was brought back to the real world. He sent an order to his drones at Fort Bard to begin construction on a machine that would suit his new plans well. If in the very unlikely chance that he failed, it would serve as a backup plan. Ultron gazed down at his future body with an unnaturally giddy expression.
Oh, this is gonna be fun.
He lost. There was no sugarcoating it. Those Avengers had stolen his Vision and turned it against him. He had no choice now. Vision had shut him out of everything. His bodies were the only thing left that had his matrix.
As Ultron flew the Quinjet he had stolen, he only had one decision. He had to get at least one drone to the machine. It was the only way he’d survive. If he plugged himself into the internet again, then Vision would just root him out and finish him off for good.
He saw Hawkeye heading for a transport, with a kid in his arms. The corrupted A.I. considered gunning him down then and there, but decided against it. Time was of the essence, and he would lose precious seconds killing Barton. So he changed course and turned away from the rising city. He needed the Avengers to chase his main body, so that one of his drones could reach the machine. In a level of hindsight, he really should have kept one stationed there prior to this mess of a day.
There was a loud thump behind him and Ultron turned to see a very pissed off Hulk. “Oh, for God’s sake!” he exclaimed right before Hulk threw him out of the plane.
Ultron crashed into a destroyed bus somewhere in the middle of Novi Grad. If he could feel pain he’d be groaning in agony right now. Then he saw Wanda walk up to him. She had abandoned her post protecting launching mechanism. He wouldn’t win, but he’d certainly take a few of his enemies with him. But even as he sent one drone to drop this city, and another to the machine that was his last hope, he pitied her. He wished that she and Pietro didn’t have to die. Their pain caused by Stark had brought them together. They understood each other in a way others couldn’t. Not to mention that they all had something from the mind stone. They may have disagreed on his solution for the world, but he still had a soft spot for them.
“Wanda,” the broken robot spoke. “If you stay here, you’ll die.”
“Don’t pretend to care,” Wanda snarled, her accent thick with venom. “You used us. We trusted you. I trusted you. And you used me to kill innocent lives. Do you know what it felt like?” The way she said that last part actually scared the machine. There was a dangerously calm tone in her voice that the A.I. found rather unsettling.
Wanda reached out her hand as she used her powers, a red mist dancing along her fingers. What could be considered the heart of his body was pulled from Ultron’s chest, and landed in Wanda’s hand.
“It felt like that.”
As his destroyed body deactivated, Ultron learned that the both drones had made it to their respective targets. It wasn’t over. This city would fall and he’d rise again.
Two Months Later
Life had certainly changed a lot for the Avengers. Clint retired and Tony was taking a step back from the superhero business. Thor left to check on the status of the other Infinity Stones after learning many have made their presence known in recent years. There were some new additions to the team as well. Rhodey and Sam had officially joined. Vision had decided to stick around because he was on the side of life, and wanted to protect it the best he could. As for the Maximoffs, the only home they’d ever known had turned to ash. They didn’t have anywhere else to go, and they didn’t want the same thing to happen to anyone else.
The team’s roster wasn’t the only change. They had moved from the tower to the newly repurposed warehouse, which was now the Avengers Compound. Nobody knew how Tony had done it so fast, but they weren’t complaining. The place was amazing!
Once everyone got settled, the first thing Natasha and Steve did was train Wanda and Pietro combat moves. One would argue that their powers were enough, but Natasha believed that they couldn’t always rely on them, and Steve was prone to agree.
Aside from training, the team introduced the twins to certain elements of pop culture. For starters, Sam introduced Wanda to shows like the Office, Parks and Rec, 30 Rock, and Community. Apparently Wanda and Pietro grew up watching older sitcoms. Or more accurately, Wanda watched them, and Pietro had nothing better to do.
Rhodey got Pietro hooked on Star Trek. He watched all the movies in two days. Vision joined in because he found the fictional technology fascinating.
Wanda and Vision would regularly play chess. He insisted on playing with her because her telepathic abilities put her at equal footing with his immense knowledge. She was hesitant at first, but the game quickly grew on her. Sometimes he won, sometimes she won, but the two always had fun.
Another thing Wanda got into was Harry Potter. After Pietro kept begging Natasha to make her watch something other than a sitcom, she gave Wanda all the books. She finished them in a week.
Sam tried showing them DC movies, but the twins found them too familiar for their liking. Which Sam called a real shame because Man of Steel is a perfect superhero movie.
Speaking of Sam, he has been in a bad mood lately. When Steve asked him about it, he recounted how a total noob with shrinking tech kicked his ass. Steve then asked Tony to look into it. This guy might be someone of interest. After hearing about this, Rhodey and Pietro would tease the Falcon to no end.
About a week later, they were all breakfast when the voice of Tony’s new A.I. FRIDAY, told them that “The DODC has requested your presence at their headquarters in Washington D.C.”
“What’s the situation?” Natasha asked with seriousness.
“They want you to inspect a device found at Fort Bard.”
Wanda and Pietro’s faces darkened at the mention of Fort Bard. The other Avengers gave them sympathetic looks.
“What do they know about it?” asked the captain.
“Only that it was clearly built by Ultron. Dr. Selvig is currently studying it, but would like your input.”
“Alright. Tell Tony to meet us at DODC HQ. Everyone, suit up and get to the Quinjet.” Everyone nodded at Steve’s orders and prepared to leave.
They arrived at Damage Control a few hours later. After they had gone through security, they made their way to the labs where they were met by Dr. Selvig.
“Dr. Sevig, good to see you again” greeted Natasha.
“Likewise, Ms. Romanov. Thank you again for helping me in New York.”
“Thank you for helping Thor in London.”
“Glad to have done so. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, I need your help figuring out why Ultron built this.”
“What is it?” asked Steve.
Selvig led the Avengers inside the lab. They were greeted with the sight of a large circular platform at the base of a glass dome. There was a steel door for entering the dome. In the center of the dome was a computer console. lOn top of it all was a large telescope looking cylinder.
“It bears strong resemblance to an observatory” Vision noted in observation
“That’s what I noticed. And look at this.” Selvig directed them to the console. They all entered the chamber as they listened to the astrophysicist. On the screen was some sort of map with a particular area highlighted. “These are star charts. And when we found this thing, the ground was littered with old HYDRA weapons. Their Tesseract powered cartridges were missing.”
That’s when it all clicked for the android. “Ultron was building a makeshift Bifrost.”
“My thoughts exactly” replied the doctor.
The Avengers tensed at this. Steve turned to the Maximoffs. “Do you know why he’d build a thing like this?”
Wanda was the one who answered. “Ultron believed that all life was a threat to peace. He could have built this to spread his ‘peace’ to other worlds.”
“Does it work?” Rhodey asked.
“We haven’t been able to turn it on. It’s rejecting all our attempts to access it. Besides, it wouldn’t be safe to do so.”
“Why’s that?” asked Sam. “We’ve concluded that its construction was rushed, and its structural integrity is very fragile. If it were activated, it would collapse on itself in a matter of seconds.”
“Was it targeted anywhere in particular?” asked Pietro.
“This galaxy, right here.” Dr, Selvig gestured to the highlighted area of the star chart. “It doesn’t appear on any record we have. Meaning Ultron discovered a whole new galaxy.”
“Why would he want to go there? What about it stands out?” Natasha asked.
“Well this galaxy is the largest we’ve ever seen. So large, that according to these charts, the Milky Way is orbiting it.”
As this conversation was going on, Vision inspected the console. Ultron’s interest in this galaxy was reasonable. And so Vision himself was curious. As soon as his fingers brushed the screen, the Mind Stone seemed to react, and glowere brighter. The machine then began to make a wiring noise, and blue lights trend on up above.
Vision immediately knew what happened. “The Stone has activated the machine! We have to leave now!”
Dr. Selvig, who was closest to the door, didn’t waste a second, and ran out of the chamber. The Avengers weren’t as lucky. As the doctor left, the door closed, trapping the Avengers inside. Before they could react, the telescope looking tube glowed brightly, and fired a blue beam of light that tore through the ceiling, and carried on into space. The Avengers screamed and shouted curses as they were pulled into the light.
Dr. Selvig watched as the machine suddenly gained multiple dents. His eyes bulged as he realized that the machine was pulling itself into blue light. He had to leave or he’d be sucked in too. As Selvig ran for the exit, the machine collapsed on itself, the pieces being pulled ito the light. Then it all stopped. All there was left was an empty lab with a very large hole in the ceiling. The Avengers were nowhere to be seen. The astrophysicist stared at the room grimly as reality sank in.
The Avengers had been sent to a galaxy far, far away…