Sokovia Raid
9 Months Later: 30. March 2015
A white and Red-colored Quinjet with Avengers logos on its wings flew above the Sokovian frozen forest near the city Novigrad. The Sokovian Government caught the wind of Hydra's presence in their country. Instead of dealing with it on their own, Sokovians reported this to The United States Council because they currently don't have the resources to deal with that kind of threat, considering Sokovia is currently in a civil war. The United States council in exchange appointed The Avengers to deal with the threat because the Sokovians also reported the sighting of Baron Wolfgang Won Strucker. Or as The Avengers like to refer to him: Hydra's latest baldy and m official leader.
Strucker has been a slippery dog for The Avengers. They have been searching for him ever since S.H.I.E.L.D fell but it was to no use. The only thing they confirmed was that it was Strucker who stole Loki's Scepter from S.H.I.E.L.D's vault in Triskelion.
It was also Strucker, who was Peggy's Hydra Handler, and who cured her rapid aging, so it is also personal for them.
The situation between The Avengers and The United States has been a bit rocky at first. The Avengers worked as a private organization without any legal authorization or oversight, and when a group of five superpowered Americans and one Alien Prince come into a foreign country with an army of Iron Men it didn't send out a good message. But the first real big conflict happened when The Avengers accidentally destroyed three city blocks in a fight against a rogue Inhuman, who was also a Hydra operative.
Thor tried to fry the Inhuman with lightning, but he missed his target and hit a gas station instead, which created a chain reaction and seven people ended up dying, along with the rogue Inhuman. After this, Tony reconsidered the status of The Avengers as an independent entity, and a deal with The UN was made, which gave The Avengers legal authority to work even outside The US.
This deal was beneficial for Ultron too. Ultron now has permission and authorization to act around all UN sanctioned Countries with almost no limitations, outside the limits his creators put on him.
Just like Tony imagined him, Ultron is keeping his eyes on almost everything digital on the planet. This fact is mostly kept a secret from public ears because it could send a wrong message and be considered a breach of privacy, which it kinda is, but for all good reasons. Ultron isn't just sticking on the internet and monitoring the leaked S.H.I.E.L.D files and preventing some unwanted eyes from accessing them any further. Ultron took over The Iron Legion for Jarvis and now he controls over 800 Legionaries, with 350 more in reserve if something unpredictable happened with the active ones. The Iron Legion doesn't just join The Avengers on their missions. Ultron works on daily missions, sometimes they are smaller like saving cats from the trees, and sometimes it is bigger like bank robbery or assaults.
The World and the general public was at first wary of Ultron, but over time, his image shifted from the mysterious robot created to boost Tony's ego, to one of the best peacekeepers on the entire planet.
Sometimes when The Iron Legion returns to The Avengers Tower, the heroes inside hear small children calling out to Ultron, calling him their hero, which is simply adorable to his creators.
The Avengers themselves are much more active than they were before S.H.I.E.L.D fell. Immediately after Ultron was created, Tony's science part of the team returned to New York, Stark Industries organized a big press conference where Tony, Clint, Thor, and Bruce publicly disowned Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff from the Avengers roster and introduced the two newest members of the team, Ms. Marvel and War Machine. Both of them were received pretty well, but the public eye was more interested in Carol than Rhodey, because she was an unknown figure, and because there aren't many female superheroes in the world, besides Black Widow, who was bashed for the info dump, and The Invisible Woman, who is retired from active duty (mostly).
In a short amount of time, Ms. Marvel became an idol and an icon to the young girls and women, who simply adored her. Her public image went rocket speed, and while she isn't at the same popularity level as Iron Man or Thor, she quickly surpassed Black Widow, who held the title of "The Female Heroine" after the Battle of New York.
Speaking off, Steve and Natasha didn't stay quiet for too long. They tried to talk with Tony and make him reconsider his decision about them on The Avengers, but Tony stood his ground and send them to hell every time they tried to approach him. Because they didn't have any funding or even a roof above their heads, they stayed with Sam Wilson, in his small apartment in Washington, until Natasha got in contact with Nick Fury, who surprise, surprise, isn't dead. Fury caught Tony one day when Tony was returning from a nightclub, to try and talk some sense to him, but their conversation didn't end well for the former Director of S.H.I.EL.D, who got mysteriously assaulted on the same night and ended up with a broken arm and black eye.
Everybody knew that it was Tony who ordered the hit, but there was no proof. Let's just say Tony wasn't happy with the whole Peggy thing, which Fury knew about all along. In the end, Fury's retirement plan got totally fucked, because his face was caught on a security camera. (Ultron's and Jarvis's work). This made Fury step up and try to pick up the broken pieces of S.H.I.E.L.D on his own, but with The Avengers and The Iron Legion operating around the globe, S.H.I.E.L.D simply wasn't needed anymore, so Fury was lucky to get at least some help from the connections he still had in the US government. It isn't much, but it keeps him and his little gang of his S.H.I.E.L.D loyalist, Wilson, Romanoff, and Rogers, up and running. Like The Avengers, this poor imitation of S.H.I.E.L.D is trying to track down the remaining Hydra operatives and shut them down. The difference is that The Avengers have a lot more resources, manpower, money, and authorization around the globe, as well as in the US.
The authorization and clearance are a bit funny thing. After the deal with The UN was made, Tony realized that his original idea for The Avengers was a bit naive. There was simply no way that the world would let them work on their own, so he figured that he would make the best of it for himself. Officially, The Avengers are still a private organization, financed by Stark Industries and Tony himself, that also works alongside The UN, which is completely true. However, behind the scenes, The Avengers have multiple contracts with the US military and Air-force, which gives them the same founding S.H.I.E.L.D had in their prime years. Because of this, Tony is not losing any money at all. The founding plus The Avengers merchandise is more than enough to pay for everything Avengers-related and a lot more.
The Avengers Initiative is officially constructed of The Iron Legion, The HR/PR division that deals with the press, the public image, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media accounts and pages, Ultron and The Iron Legion, and lastly, The Avengers Strike Team (Iron Man, War Machine, Thor, The Hulk, Hawkeye, and Ms. Marvel). There are also different kinds of workers, but they are not as important as these three factions.
Then there is the unofficial part of The Avengers Initiative that is kept secret from the public eye. The spies, assassins, and intel gatherers. Leftover agents from S.H.I.E.L.D, who were specifically picked by Maria Hill, who became their new Boss. Their work is pretty much the same as they had under S.H.I.E.L.D. The only differences are that they are working in complete secrecy as they did before S.H.I.E.L.D revealed itself to the public, and have much better equipment and salary. To keep this part of The Avengers a secret, Tony used the new increase in finances to build another Avengers facility outside New York in a remote location, so while The Avengers Tower serves as the playground for the Strike Team and a public attraction for the public, The Avengers Compound is the top-secret base where the behind the scenes stuff happens.
"Attention, attention. This is your Captain speaking." Carol announced to the microphone from the pilot seat with a smirk on her face. "We are currently one minute from the drop zone, so suit up, get ready, and don't forget to smile on your way down."
"Seriously?" Rhodey deadpanned. "Again with the Captain joke? Carol, you need to find better jokes!"
"Oh shut up," Carol flashed him a middle finger with amusement all over her face as she dropped the headset to the co-pilot seat and walked into the cargo part of The Quinjet in her new mostly red and blue suit. "You guys love my Captain joke. Admit it!"
"Don't argue with her," Tony whispered to Rhodey as he nudged him with his arm. He then quickly flashed Carol his cocky grin and nodded his head. "You know it, Darling! We love your jokes! Without a doubt."
"See?" Carol smiled and pointed at Tony. "He gets it."
Rhodey shook his head and sighed. "How did I get myself into this mess?" Carol raised her eyebrow at him while Tony lifted his finger to answer, but Rhodey quickly slapped his hand away and glared at them both. "That was a retheroical question!"
"Hunger Games just gave us the green light," Jarvis announced via speakers with his smooth British accent. "Hydra Forces are changing shifts. We have two minutes until the switch is done."
"Finally." Rhodey sighed with relief as he quickly jumped to his feet and walked to his War Machine Armor Mark 3, which immediately opened up for him to step inside. The suit closed around him and he walked over to stand next to Bruce and Thor, who were both already waiting next to the ramp. "It's time. Everybody ready?"
"Always, Son of Rhodes." Thor grinned from ear to ear, as the ramp opened up.
Bruce slowly looked down over the edge and sighed. "That's a long drop."
Thor looked over Bruce's shoulder and shrugged his shoulders. "Noooo, it's fine."
"I hate this part." Bruce snarled as he glared at the snow under them.
"Nonsense!" Thor exclaimed massaging Bruce's shoulders. "You love this part."
"Oh really?" Bruce sarcastically muttered, shrugging Thor's arms off himself while also grimacing from discomfort because Thor doesn't know how to properly do a good massage. " How so?
"Well, ehmmm." Thor sheepishly scratched the back of his head as he looked to the others for help, but found none. He looked back at Bruce, who was looking at him expectedly, but because Thor had no good answer for him, he simply pushed him out of the Quinjet.
"Thooooooooooooooooooor!" Bruce's yell echoed as he kept falling down, making Thor, Tony and Carol laugh and Rhodey roll his eyes.
"This never gets old!" Thor proclaimed as he also jumped off the Quinjet, laughing as he kept falling through the air with his beloved Mjolnir firmly in his hand.
Tony chuckled to himself and quickly walked over to the edge of the ramp, giving Rhodey a quick smirk. "See you at the bottom!" He said with a wink directed to Carol as he also leaped off the Quinjet.
"Tony wait!" Rhodey shouted but it was too late as Tony was already falling through the air, making Rhodey groan and shake his head in disbelief.
"He didn't have the suit on again," Carol stated the obvious as she clapped Rhodey on the shoulder with a 'what can you do smile'.
Rhodey sighed. "No, he didn't."
From below the Quinjet, parts of Iron Man Mark 46 lunched themselves from the Jet and attached to Tony's falling body, forming Iron Man in his full glory. As soon as the Armor was fully formed, Tony shoot down and flew past the falling Bruce, who was still screaming and slowly transforming into The Hulk.
"Oh, how I love Mondays!"
****
"I hate Mondays!" One Hydra Trooper whined to his co-worker as they kept loading up a truck with boxes full of weaponry and other stuff on one of Hydra's outposts around their main base. "We always have so much work on Mondays! It's exhausting!"
"Stop whining and get back to work!" The second Hydra Trooper groaned in annoyance. "I swear to god, Jerry! If you are going to just continue to stand there I will take one of these stupid crystals and make you swallow it!"
"Shhhh!" The First Trooper hushed his co-worker as he looked around them with a frown.
"Don't you shush me!" The Second Trooper snapped. "What are you looking at anyway? We have a job to do!"
"I thought I heard something..." The First Trooper muttered as he finally moved to assist his co-worker
"Probably just a squirrel." The Second Trooper guessed. "We are in a forest after all..."
His words died down when Thor landed on their truck, destroying it and sending them both, along with their other co-workers flying and crushing them to the ground. Harshly. Thor then stood to his full height and smirked as he swung Mjolnir around him and threw it at the Hydra Trooper closest to him, hitting him directly in the chest. Mjolnir then bounced into another Trooper and then flew around the area, knocking out even more of them while Thor jumped off the destroyed truck, and caught one Trooper by the arm, throwing him at least 20 feet in the air.
One Trooper managed to recover and aim his high-tech glowy gun on Thor, but before he could fire, Iron Man shoot him with his repulsors before he landed in his iconic position next to Thor. "Gentlemen." He politely greeted and for a moment they all froze at the sight of him. Their frozen state didn't last too long as they quickly opened fire, but it had no real effect on Iron Man, who took a protective step in front of Thor, blocking him with his own body, while The God of Thunder recalled his hammer into his hand. "Ready, Thunder God?"
"I was born ready, Man of Iron!" Thor beamed with a smirk.
Thor raised his mighty hammer into the air, calling down lightning on top of him and creating a small snowy shockwave that temporarily blinded the Hydra Troopers, giving him and Iron Man enough time to spring into the action. They fought the Hydra troopers left and right with ease, until an angry roar echoed around the whole forest, making all of them stop and look up. Thor and Iron Man exchanged a quick glance as they both immediately flew out of the way as The Hulk landed on the ground, creating a crater on the impact.
The Green Giant quickly jumped out of the crater shouting "Hulk smash!" as he landed on one of the remaining Hydra trucks, destroying it completely. The Hulk quickly ripped some parts of the truck and started throwing them at the Troopers, who instead of fighting decided to retreat and call for reinforcements, making The Hulk release another angry roar, as he quickly rushed after them. From the sideline, Iron Man and Thor calmly observed the scene, but as soon as The Hulk released another roar, Thor smirked at Iron Man, before their both followed their Green friend in persuade of the battle.
"Sir! Hydra reinforcements are approaching your area!" Jarvis warned. "Expect heavy resistance."
Just as Jarvis said it, Battle Drones and Hydra Troopers wearing Exoskeleton armors joined the fight, making Iron Man separate from The Hulk and Thor on the ground, and engage their enemies in the air. He managed to destroy seven drones before one managed to shoot him, momentarily breaking his flight pattern, and giving Hydra enough time to gang up on him. One Hydra Exo-suit Trooper got behind Iron Man and aimed his glowing purple canon at him, but before he could fire, Ms. Marvel shoot him down, as she and War Machine joined the fight. War Machine flew around the drones as he locked on his targets and released missiles from his shoulders, destroying the whole platoon of drones at once.
"Oh, yeaaah baby!" Rhodey whistled in satisfaction inside his helmet as the drones crashed to the ground and exploded. "War Machine rocks!"
"And he has the audacity to judge my jokes with puns like that?!" Ms. Marvel whispered to Iron Man in Disbelief.
Iron Man just shrugged as all three of them joined The Hulk and Thor, fighting the ground forces.
With a battle cry, Thor propelled himself onto a Hydra watchtower, quickly defending four troopers with only his hands while his hammer flew past him and knocked a sniper to the ground with his entire tower crashing with him too. The Hulk landed under the watchtower Thor was fighting on and punched a truck that was trying to get away from him, making it crash, and allowing War Machine to fire a missile at it and blow it up. Iron Man and Ms.Marvel flew above Thor, with Ms. Marvel clearing the pathway for Iron Man to fly ahead and breach the main Hydra base. As Iron Man got high in the air and closed in on the tower, he collided with a force field, that bounced him back.
"Shit!" Iron Man cursed as he started to fly around the base, looking for an opening.
"What's going on?" Ms. Marvel asked with a concerned tone over the comms, as she blasted another truck without actually looking at it. When Tony didn't respond, Carol huffed in frustration and shook her head. "J? What's the view from upstairs?"
"The central but building is protected by an energy shield, Strucker’s technology is well beyond any other HYDRA base we have taken," Jarvis reported.
Thor landed in the middle of a group of Hydra troopers, kicking and throwing them around like rag dolls, before throwing Mjolnir at the others. "Loki’s Scepter must be here. Strucker wouldn’t have been able to mount this type of defense without it." He recalled Mjolnir back to him, but before it could reach him, he ducked under it and the hammer flew above him and hit another Hydra Trooper that was aiming at the back of The God of Thunders's head. Mjolnir then flew back to Thor's hand who smiled. "At long last."
"Do you guys think we could finish this up quickly?" War Machine questioned as he flew above The Hulk, who was rampaging around the battlefield, and covered for their green giant. "I have a date with Helen and I would seriously hate to be late..."
"We possibly could..." Iron Man faked a calm tone. "If Legolas did his job properly!"
"Hold your horses, Iron Pants!" Hawkeye whispered in the comms as he hid in the shadows, already inside the Hydra base. "This is a delicate line of work. I have been here for almost four hours now and I have come up with a theory." He began to explain as he watched two a group of twelve Hydra guards under him. "Every 15 minutes, The Hydra dicks under me make fun out of their youngest member, who goes sulking for 10 minutes straight outside the room. 6 members will after 7 minutes go to lighten up his mood and in another 4 minutes, all 5 of them will return and the cycle will repeat itself in the next 45 minutes. Now, if my calculations are correct, the four of them will leave... Now." Just as he said it four Hydra Troopers under him left the room and he grinned to himself. "I'm a bloody genius!"
"Could you hurry up, Bloody Genius?" Iron Man huffed as the rapidity of the attacks aimed at him increased. He flew around the base, shooting down everything he could outside the shield barrier. From the corner of his eye, Tony saw a flashing yellow light in the distance and it made him smile inside his helmet. "You know Carol, I was hoping that you were just joking with that outfit. It is better than your last, but I simply don't think that those are your colors."
"You know we are in a middle of a fight, right?" Carol's amused voice ringed over the comms.
"Of course, I know, Sweetheart," Tony replied with a smirk as he dodged an incoming missile. "I'm being shot at as we speak. But in this branch of work, you need to look good while you are kicking ass!"
"You are saying I don't look good right now?" Carol dangerously slowly questioned.
"That's now what I was trying to say!" Tony quickly defended himself. "What I was trying to say is that when we are back home, I'm going to make you a new suit. Something more... cute."
"Cute?" Carol questioned after a moment of silence. "I'm not wearing that swimsuit you got me for Christmas on missions, Tony."
Tony paused. "...That was not what I was implying, but now you gave me an excellent idea-"
"Oh for the love of god!" Clint exclaimed as he dropped a smoke bomb below him that stunned the Hydra Troopers long enough for him to get a drop on them. He quickly fired three arrows at the same time, hitting three of his targets at the same time, killing them instantly. He then blocked a punch aimed at his head with his bow, while also picking up another arrow from his quiver and stabbing it into another man's knee, making him scream from pain and bend over, allowing him to pull the arrow out and jam it into the man's eye, before kicking the guy he was still blocking with his bow. "Get a room you two!" He said as he straightened himself and pulled two arrows out of his quiver and fired them at the doors, just as the 7 remaining guys reentered the room and gasped at the sight in front of them. "Hi!" Clint grinned as he waved at them and at that moment, the two arrows exploded, killing all 7 of them instantly.
"Y-you killed them." The surviving guard gasped as he held on to his bleeding leg with fear in his eyes.
"And it took me less than 20 seconds." Clint proudly stated as he kneeled next to the guy with an arrow dangling in his hand. "Imagine what I can do to you in five minutes." The Guy shivered and Clint placed the arrow down. "Of course, we could avoid all of that if you tell me everything I want to know. Otherwise..." He made a throat-cutting motion with the arrow and gave the Guy a look that told him that he really means it. "Where is Baron Strucker? Is he still here on this base?"
"Yes..." The Guy quickly nodded his head. "He and Dr. Alfred List have been here experimenting with the enhanced twins."
"What twins?" Clint questioned.
"Wanda and Pietro Maximoff." The Guy whispered. "They have volunteered for Strucker's experiments in the new superhuman program. The two of them are the only survivors..."
"Interesting..." Clint muttered to himself before he tapped his commlink "All of you heard that, right?"
"Yes." Iron Man replied as he flew over the base with drones in persuade of him. "Try to find out more about these twins while I invite myself inside the base on my own. We don't have time for you to look for the controls of the forcefield..."
"Sir, the city is taking fire," Jarvis informed. "Some Hydra forces have separated from the battle around the base, presumably in hopes of separating our forces."
"Well, we already knew that Strucker is not going to worry about civilian casualties." Tony grimaced inside his helmet. "Ultron, your up, buddy. Bring in the Iron Legion. Focus on aerial support of The Avengers and safeguarding the city. Lethal force is authorized."
****
In Space, ten white and red satellites with the logos of Stark Industries, The Avengers, Fantastic Four, The Future Foundation, S.W.O.R.D, and Nasa, circled in the orbit around Earth, with the eleventh installation being a smaller space station, acting as the main one. From one of these satellites, a new type of an Iron Legionnaire stepped out of the satellite, with a squadron of his look-alikes following closely behind him. Unlike the original Iron Legionaries, these new ones were pained in white and silver color with yellow glowing lenses and an arc reactor in the middle of their chests.
These new Legionaries were designed with a new objective in mind. Fight.
The Iron Legion quickly lunched themselves from the satellite and flew down to Earth in the direction of Sokovia. When they entered the atmosphere, they separated into two groups. The bigger one went to join The Avengers in their fight outside the base, while the smaller one flew into Novi Grad.
"This quadrant is unsafe," Ultron announced through one of the Legionaries as he dropped in the middle of a small crowd. "Please back away. We are here to help." Ultron repeated this message multiple times through all of the Legionaries in the area, but the local Sokovians didn't take the presence of The Avengers and Iron Legion very well, as they started to pick up rocks and pelt them at the drones.
"Ungrateful pricks," Tony muttered to himself as Ultron flashed the reports from The Iron Legion inside his hud. "Remind me to send the bill to the UN for the damage done to the Legion. They are the ones who send us here after all..." He is shot down by ground Hydra troopers, but before he could crash into the dirt, he used his thrusters to flip himself back to his feet and skidded in front of his attackers, shooting them at point-blank with his repulsors, before he flew back into the air. "J? Ultron? Do you guys see a power source for that shield?"
"There is a pathway below North Watchtower," Ultron reported without a second passing.
Tony grinned. "Great, I want to poke it with something." He flew into an archway, firing at the ground troopers before he flew directly through a windshield of a truck, taking its driver and passenger with him and throwing them to the ground. He then boosted himself with his repulsors in the air and used a missile from his gauntlet to destroy the power source of the force field, dropping it down instantly. "Drawbridge is down. I'm going in." He reported to the others. "Ultron, have some Legionaries join me down here. We are going to barbecue a bit before we join Legolas."
"Understood," Ultron replied as eight drones separated from the rest and flew in the direction of the base.
"Hawkeye?" Tony called out. "What do we got about the enhanced twins? Are they going to be a threat?"
"Wanda and Pietro Maximoff." Clint begun. "Age 26. Both of them were born here in Sokovia. They were orphaned in 1999 during the aerial bombing of Novi Grad by The American Air Force. In their adulthood, they organized protests against the Sokovian Government and United States. They joined Hydra sometime before S.H.I.E.L.D fell. They were promised power by Strucker and they took it. Both of them were aware they joined Hydra. They simply didn't care when it meant they would get what they wanted. Their powers are interesting. Pietro is a speedster. He runs fast. Wanda on the other hand is a weird one. This guy I'm interrogating doesn't know what exactly she is capable of, but he is saying it is nasty and very dangerous stuff."
"Nasty and dangerous stuff?" Tony questioned with a frown. "What the fuck does that even mean?"
"I don't know!" Clint huffed. "But this guy is pretty creeped out about it so I honestly don't want to find out."
Tony sighed. "You guys heard that? Keep your eyes open for these two. Try not to kill them. I don't want to risk it being another Inhuman and then explaining to Blackbolt and Medusa how it happened. The last time we accidentally killed an Inhuman, I had to bribe Medusa with a really awesome super suit, similar to that thing Reed made for Blackbolt."
"Uh-huh," Carol muttered as she looked in the distance and saw a blue blur moving around her. "You said one of them is a speedster, right?"
"Yeah." Clint confusingly confirmed. "Why?"
"Give me a moment," Carol said as she flew into the air as soon as the blur got close to her. Without thinking too much about it, she speeded back to the ground, creating a small shockwave that threw Pietro Maximoff off his feet and made him land on his butt. "Good news, boys. I found the speedster."
"How did you…?" Pietro questioned with wide eyes, as he rolled back to his feet.
"You are fast, but I'm fast too," Carol smirked when Pietro just blinked at her his mouth opening and closing like a fish. "Now, Speedy. Do I need to kick your ass or are you going to make this easy for us both and surrender?"
"I will never surrender." Pietro hissed as he reached for the snow next to him and did something Carol would've never thought an enemy would've done. He threw a snowball at her. "You didn't see that coming? He taunted while Carol stood there completely stunned with dropped jaw, because to her, this was simply too ridiculous to even think about it. Her shocked state gave Pietro enough time to simply run away from her, making her snap out of her frozen state.
"Correction. I don't have him anymore." Carol said to the commlink. "He ran away. And he threw a snowball at me..."
Clint burst out laughing, making the Guard he left to live to flinch at the sudden noise. "He- He threw a snowball at you?" Clint choked out between his laughter, confusing the Guard. Clint looked at the Guard and wiped happy tears away from his eyes. "What kind of idiots you Hydra guys employ?"
The Guard blinked at him with an offended and pained look on his face. "I don't know what you are-"
He was cut off when a sound echoed from the corner and Clint immediately snapped into a defensive stance, ready to fire and kill anything that comes his way. A sound of footsteps echoed throw the room as both Clint and The Guard felt tense. In a moment, Clint knew the footsteps were close enough that the target would emerge from behind the corner in a second, he let his arrow fly and it hit its target. Well, it did hit but it did not affect the target because it bounced off.
Clint started at the new incomers with an unimpressed look on his face. "You have got to be fucking kidding me."
"Language!" Steve Rogers reprimanded as he, Sam Wilson, and Natasha Romanoff entered the room. "It's good to see you again, Clint. It's been a while. Although, I would prefer if you didn't try to shoot us after everything we have been through..."
"What the fuck are you doing here?!" Clint angrily demanded as he lowered his bow. "This is an Avengers operation! Not whatever the fuck Fury is calling your new organization, which I'm sure has no authorization in Sokovia or even Europe as a whole!"
"We are The Avengers!" Steve stubbornly exclaimed, shaking his head in a disappointed manner. "Look, we understand that we could've done things differently, but now it's too late to dwell on it. That doesnt mean that we cannot be a Team anymore!"
"We are doing the same as you guys," Natasha stated giving Clint a hopeful and friendly small smile, ignoring Steve's outburst. "We got intel on Strucker's location and we are trying to dismantle Hydra... Perhaps we could join our forces?"
"Unlikely," Clint replied, making Natasha's smile drop. He turned away from them and tapped his comlink. "Come in. This is Hawkeye. We have unwanted guests on the base. I repeat. Rogers, Romanoff, and Wilson are here. What am I supposed to do with them?"
"Now Clint, I'm sure we can help-" Steve began, flipping his shield on his back.
"No, thank you," Clint replied without looking at Steve. "The last thing we need is help from- Arghhh!" Clint hissed from pain as he felt a sharp pain in his back. He sharply turned around to see the guard he interointerrogated with a sadistic grin on his face and bloodied arrow on hand.
"Clint!" Natasha yelled as she quickly used her widow bites to shoot the guy in the stomach, making him drop to the ground like a bag of potatoes.
Steve quickly rushed to the dying guard, ready to finish him off, but when he got to him, the guard just grinned with blood dripping from his mouth. "Hail Hydra..." He breathed out as he died, making Steve glare at his corpse.
"Son of a bitch that hurts..." Clint hissed as Sam helped him to sit down.
"Try not to move," Sam said as he rolled Clint's suit up and began to try to stop the bleeding. "You are losing a lot of blood..."
Clint caught and reached for his comlink. "Iro-Iron Man... I'm hit..."
"I'm near your position." Tony worriedly replied. "ETA one minute. Don't die on me, Hawkeye..."
"Will... try." Clint hissed through the pain as Natasha kneeled next to him and observed his wound.
"He will bleed out at this rate," Natasha said to Sam, who tried his best to apply pleasure to the wound. "He needs hospital or we need to somehow stop the bleeding... The most likely option is to seal it with fire."
"Don't... do... anything..." Clint whispered as his eyes started to close. "T- Tony will... Tony will handle... it."
"You are putting too much trust into Stark." Natasha snapped. "Don't forget who he is, Clint. He is a narcissistic-"
She was cut off when Iron Man burst through the wall and landed in front of them. He quickly looked over them without a word and in a second he was kneeling in front of Clint with his hand on his shoulder. "J? Give me the full-body scan. Is his spine injured or something that would prevent me from moving him?"
"Scans show no spinal injuries, Sir," Jarvis reported. "However, I would be very careful with how you move him. He is losing a lot of blood and will bleed out in less than 7 minutes if the bleeding isn't stopped right now."
"Let me out of the suit," Tony ordered and the suit immediately opened up, allowing him to step out. He looked at Natasha and glared at her. "Help me pick him up and put him inside."
"How will that help-" Natasha began to question, but Tony waved her off.
"Don't ask questions and just do as I say." Tony snarled as he already moved to pick Clint up. Natasha glared at him but did as he told her and together they placed Clint into Mark 46, which closed around him. "J? Seal the bleeding and put him to sleep so he isn't in pain." He looked behind him at the eight Legionaries that flew inside the room as soon as he stepped out of his suit and pointed at the two of them. "Ultron, use Legionnaires four and eight to safely transport Clint back to the Quinjet.” The two named Legionaries immediately moved to Mark 46 and flew with it away from the building. As soon as they were out of sight, Tony turned to the remaining drones. "Legionaries five and six stay with me. Send the rest on a hunt. Find me Strucker.” He then turned to Steve, Sam, and Natasha and shrugged. "You guys go to whatever dark hole you crawled from. You have done enough damage for today."
"You are saying that this is our fault?!" Steve demanded as he took a threatening step closer to Tony, who didn't even blink.
"Yes." Tony simply responded with a completely serious tone. "Clint is the only one of us besides Banner who didn't use the medical bay on any serious injuries. Until today... This brings out the question... What was different this time around? Oh! I know! You three." He pointed an accusing finger at them and glared. "Clint never gets distracted on the missions, but because of you he did and now he almost bled out to death." He walked past them with The remaining Legion behind him without looking back. "Stay out of our way... Ex-Vengers."
Steve moved to follow Tony with an angry expression because of the clear insult, but Natasha caught his arm and shook her head. "Don't. Remember what I told you. You need to pick your battles carefully. Play your cards close. Our opportunity will come again."
"Perhaps we should leave," Sam suggested. "Who knows? Maybe they will give us a lift back to the states?"
****
Dr. Alfred List was frantically trying to erase all of Hydra's research as he heard the sounds of repulsors and guns quickly approaching closer to him. There was a beat of silence until Two Iron Legionaries burst through the wall and swiftly shot everybody, including Dr. List, neutralizing them. Then Tony walked through the hole in the wall and smirked as he walked past them. "Hello there, boys. Tell me, would one of your fair Gentlemen like to tell me where can I find your servers or do I need to look for them on my own?"
List glared at the genius and quickly pushed himself to his feet, desperately trying to finish the delete process, but before he could even type one key into the computer, Ultron shot him in the chest again, this time killing him instantly, instead of stun.
"Oh look!" Tony cheerfully pointed at the computer next to the dead Alfred List. "I found them. Thank you for your cooperation." He looked at the Legionnaire on his right and nodded. "Tranq them." Ultron did as Tony ordered while Tony himself looked at the computer and put a flash drive into it. "Okay, Ultron, you know I want it all. Make sure to make a copy for Hill at The Compound."
"Starting the download," Ultron announced as one Legionnaire moved next to Tony and simply stared at the computer. "Approximate time until the end. 4 minutes."
Tony nodded and turned around. He looked around the room with a curious expression on his face. "I know you are hiding more than files." He spoke to the base as if it could hear him. He licked his lips and turned back to Ultron with a small smug smile. "Hey, Wonder Boy. Gimme an IR scan of the room real quick."
A red light came out of Ultron's lenses as it scanned through the whole room and stopped at Tony. "The wall to your left." Ultron pointed at the wall. "I'm reading steel reinforcement and an air current."
"Huh." Tony huffed as walked to the wall and placed his hand on it. "Please be a secret door. Please be a secret door. Please be a secret door." He lightly as he traced the wall with his hand until he felt a brick move and a passage with a staircase opened up. "Yay!" He excitedly exclaimed as he started climbing down.
"Wait." Ultron stopped him. "I'm detecting a faint Chitauri energy source directly below us."
Tony froze and flinched. He looked warily at the bottom of the staircase, silently questioning himself if he really wants to go downstairs. He decided to go at it logically. The Chitauri were loud beasts and there is no sound coming from downstairs, so he figured out whatever it is, it isn't anything alive, which boosted his confidence. "Ultron, finish up the download and use Legionnaire Six to safeguard this passage. Nothing gets in or out except us. Legionnaire Five with me. We are going to seek out the hidden Hydra treasure, Baby Boy."
"Your quips aren't much better than those of Colonel Rhodes." Ultron quietly proclaimed as they started walking down the stairs.
Tony gasped and placed a hand over his heart. "How could you?!"
"I'm simply stating the truth," Ultron responded.
"So much snark at such young age..." Tony shook his head in disbelief but was still visibly amused. "Jarvis is a bad influence on you!"
"I wonder after who Jarvis picked it up..." Ultron sarcastically asked before his voice turned serious. "The Iron Legion managed to apprehend Baron Strucker before he could escape. I have already sent them back to Quinjet. Mr. Barton is stabilized, for now, Colonel Rhodes and Dr. Banner are trying to threaten his wound to the best of their abilities, but he will clearly need professional help with proper medical equipment. Captain Danvers and Prince Thor are taking care of the remaining Hydra Forces. They the seem to be doing well."
"That's good," Tony said as he nodded his head in acknowledgment. They finally reached the secret lair and they both stopped before the entrance. The lair was a mess, but it was pretty obvious as to what it was meant to safeguard. Suspended from the ceiling was one Chitauri Leviathan, that made Tony wince. Slowly, Tony found the courage to walk inside the lair and look around, with Ultron following closely behind him. On one of the tables under the Leviathan were remnants of an attempt to build some sort of a robot and replicate The Arc Reactor. Next to it was a box full of purple crystals that Tony recognized as the Terrigen Crystals. "Interesting..." Tony muttered to himself as he walked past the table and his eyes found Loki's scepter. He grinned to himself as he tapped his comlink in his ear and approached the target. "Thor, I got eyes on the prize." He reported and then looked at Ultron, giving him a small nod. "Have at it, Baby Boy."
Ultron moved to retrieve the scepter, but unknown to both Tony and Ultron, Wanda Maximoff slowly stalked behind Tony with red glowing eyes and a smirk plastered on her face. Red Mists form in the palm of her hand as she points her head at Tony's hand and lets it flow. At that moment, Ultron stops his movement and turns around. "Unknown energy detected." Without a moment of hesitation, Ultron fired at Wanda, who yelped and used her powers to shield herself. The collision of the repulsor blast with Wanda's powers created a small energy explosion that threw all three of them to the ground. The energy was then absorbed by the Scepter, turning its bright blue gem into dark and bloody red.
Tony's eyes glowed red as he shook his head with a grimace. An ugly buzzing from behind him drew his attention as he slowly turned around, only to be met with the dead Chitauri Leviathan releasing an angry roar as it broke out of the chains that were holding up and flew above his head. Tony warily followed it with his eyes, but as he blinked he was no longer in Hydra's secret lair. Instead, he was somewhere on a weird rock in the middle of Space. Sweat started dripping from his face as he saw a large rock with all of his closest friends lying on it.
The Hulk twitched with spears sticking out of his body, snoring with a defeated look on his face. Bellow, him was Peggy Carter, her dead eyes stared at Tony in a way that made him feel as if she was looking directly inside his soul. Next to Peggy was Clint, who was hunched over a rock with bloodied claw marks all over his body, still somehow gripping his beloved bow. In front of Clint was Carol, lying on her stomach but clearly beaten up to a bloodied pulp. Her right hand and leg were also gone. Below Carol was, Thor, his face bruised, his right eye missing and his mighty hammer destroyed next to his bloodied hand. The last corpse was Rhodey, who was still wearing his War Machine suit but without the helmet that was crushed on the rock next to his leg. Tony quickly rashed forward to them, looking over them all with a hopeless expression on his face, looking for any sign of life, but finding none. He dropped to his knees in front of his oldest best friend and one tear rolled down his cheek, as he reached his hand to Rhodey's face, intended to at least close his dead eyes.
Suddenly Rhodey gasped for air and grabbed Tony by the arm, making him flinch from shock. The Colonel pulled the Genius closer to him, cloaking on his own blood as he whispered. "You... could have saved us...Why didn't you do more?" With those final words, Rhodey released his last breath as a stream of blood leaked from his nose. Tony stared at Rhodey's dead body with wide eyes and a trembling mouth.
The screeching of the Chitauri Leviathan gained Tony’s attention as he looked up from his fallen comrades with total defeat all over his face, only to be met with the sight of a portal, identical to the one from the invasion back in 2012, only this time with him on the other side of it. Tony looked away as he saw squadrons of Chitauri forces making their way to Earth.
"Dread it. Run from it. Destiny still arrives." A deep voice echoed around Tony as he looked around him, looking for the source. "I am coming for you."
"No..." Tony breathed out as he closed his eyes and hand his head low in defeat.
Wanda stared at the back of Tony's head with wide eyes full of terror. This never happened to her before. She never saw any visions she showed to the other herself. The only thing she ever felt were only their emotions. But now she saw it. She felt it and she is scared to even make a single move.
She could still feel Tony's emotions. Like she, he is also afraid but not for himself. He is afraid that he will fail. That he will fail his teammates and friends. At this moment, in that nightmare, Tony wants nothing more than to die, and Wanda is really tempted to grant him that wish. But on the other hand, death would be a gift for him and she wants him to suffer before he dies first. She wants him to feel real pain, not just pain inside his head. At that moment, Pietro ran into the room through the same secret entrance Wanda walked in. At the sight of Tony, Pietro gritted his teeth and was about to attack, but Wanda grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back. "Not yet."
"What the hell are you doing?!" Pietro demanded as he shrugged her hand away. "He is right there! Let's end it and be done with it!"
"Not yet!" Wanda hissed. "I will explain everything later. Now get us out of here before his friends can come or his robot wakes up!"
Pietro glared at her but she didn't back down, making him sigh. "Fine." He spat as he grabbed her and quickly flashed them both out of the room, just as Tony managed to snap himself out of the nightmare and Ultron finally rebooted.
Tony released a shaky breath as he looked at the still dead Chitauri Leviathan just to make sure it is really dead. He swallowed hard as he glanced back at the Scepter and suddenly felt hypnotized by its glowing gem. His eyes glowed electric blue as the scepter flew directly into his hand. Tony stared at it for a few moments while Ultron picked himself up from the ground and slowly approached him. Without a word, Tony spun around and walked away with The Scepter firmly in his hand.
Behind him, Ultron watched Tony walk away with his lenses flashing brightly red for a few seconds before they returned back to their natural yellow and he quickly followed behind his creator.