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PREVIOUSLY ON: Dawn of New Change
Pietro and Wanda Maximoff meet with Ultron where they eventually get taken under his wing. Meanwhile, back at the Tower, Taeyong and the rest of the Avengers start to find out what Ultron's next moves are. Which is how they find themselves with promising information.
Ultron is looking for Ulysses Klaue, for an upgrade, a vibranium-related upgrade.
In the African Coast, at a Salvage Yard that practically looked shady. This was where Ulysses Klaue made his business. His entire empire ran in the array of large shipment boats made for transporting his goods. Currently, his men were hard at work, transporting different heavy artillery and large missiles to the next stocking cart.
Business had bloomed ever since the arrival of the Avengers and Klaue happily made his profits to whichever country came crawling over to him. It seemed with Stark's whole get-up of beginning 'world peace' he overlooked what so many people were afraid of. The ideas of 'world peace' coming from the mouth of the Americans. Klaue could hardly care, for he was a man that flourished in the riches of business and he wouldn't be intimidated by whoever wanted him.
Because at the end of the day, people always wanted. Which made them desperate and desperation was something he liked to feed on.
Klaue was in his office, overlooking his workers through the grime of his tainted windows. He was leant over against the wall, eyes on his business but mind focused on the call he was currently taking. "Don't tell me your men swindled you. I sent you six short-range heat seekers and got a boat full of rusted parts. Now don't make the same mistake," he said, walking back over to his monitor and where the telephone lay, "or the next missile I send you will come very much faster." With that as his final word, his thumb pressed against the receiver and it cut off.
Then, with a much politer tone, Klaue switched the call lines and gave a fake smile. "Now, minister, where were we?"
Before he could get an answer, the power shut down and Klaue's entire facility was swept in darkness. The only light came from his monitors, showing in faint blue and reds, his numbers. With the darkness came the shouts and disgruntled noises of his workers, a few of which had some sense to grab torches and look around for help.
Klaue scoffed.
He knew something was going on. Working in such a business required a sharp mind and although the easier option for him would be to see to the power generators and assume that energy was simply temporarily out (they did work in an old and run down boat powered by separate generators) Klaue knew not to take this little dip in the dark at face value.
He walked slowly over to his desk space and picked up his gun, squinting in the dark. He turned to the office entrance, slowly creeping towards the door. Klaue didn't even wait, as soon as he saw a blur of something moving in that direction his hand was up and finger pressed against the trigger. With the loud bang of the shot, Klaue found himself thrown, gun out of his hand and a disorientating feeling as he staggered backwards. His legs hit the edge of his desk and he looked back to find a young man, probably a kid standing right at the door, a small smirk adoring his sunken features.
He had his arms crossed and he leant back against the door with a smug sense of arrogance as he eyed Klaue. Klaue, who turned back to his desk, looked down to find his gun disassembled and each bullet stacked neatly in a line, all facing upwards. There was the small tinkering sound of the last bullet, as if finally settled into its own standing position. "Huh," Klaue muttered. "Well that's new."
He turned back around and smirked, finding another kid, a girl, walking in slowly. Her eyes glowed a passionate red colour, her face tilted to the side- it kind of reminded Klaue of those cheaply made American horror films. Of those little possessed girls. "This-" he grinned- "not so new. Yeah. Enhanced. Strucker's prized pupils."
Klaue sat down on his desk, leaning against it and looking over the twins with leisurely eyes. They swept over both of them, taking in the slight muscle on the boy's arms that were crossed. Except he was too skinny for Klaue to really fear him and okay, yeah, he was hella fast but he also looked like he was a child. The girl as well. Her hair was tired back but she wore a deep red top with a dark belt and black cropped jacket. Klaue gave a shark-like grin, she tried to dress herself into something more old, more fashionable. He had to give her some props, she was trying her best.
He eased back a little, sitting down in his office chair. His arm rounded back into his bowl of sweets and he plucked it from his counter. "Do you want a candy? Hmm?" He gave a pathetic sort of smile and set the bowl down. "I was sorry to hear about Strucker. But then, he knew what kind of world he was helping create." Klaue gave an easy shrug of his shoulder, "human market you know? Not an easy market."
The boy furrowed his brows, looking back at his sister who gave him an equally blank look and Klaue took some pity on them. "Oh, you didn't know?" He put on a gentle voice, leaning forward and turning to the girl. "Is this your first time intimidating someone?" he chuckled darkly and stood back up. "I'm afraid, I'm not that afraid."
"Everybody is afraid of something," she said, stepping back from the shadows and into the light of the room. Her cheeks were sunken in and Klaue arched a brow, wow- they both needed the candy.
"Eh, cuttlefish," he pointed back to her. She tilted her head, obviously confused and Klaue really had to refrain from an eye roll. Okay, so he was definitely going to have to teach them the basics. "Deep sea fish? You know, the ones that make lights, disco lights..." Klaue made a claw shape with his hand, imitating the fish noise. "To hypnotise their prey, and then-" he made a snatching motion, elated when they both flinched.
Klaue shrugged, "I saw a documentary. It was terrifying."
But then he flinched, because that boy- the young, silver-haired fella stepped forward and in a blur, was standing back beside his sister. There was a candy in his hand and he was unwrapping it. I like this one, he thought.
Klaue sighed and leant back against his desk. "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." His eyes passed over her throat, where she gulped. "And I know, you're not in charge... and I only deal with the man in charge."
The next thing Klaue knew, the side of his office space was shattered all around him. To paint this picture, Klaue bloody well knew he shouldn't have made what was basically a glorified greenhouse his office. But well, he liked to overlook his investments and he wanted his people to know that he was always looming. Bad idea when some random fucking robot punched their way in and Klaue was thrown out onto the floor.
"There is no man in charge." The robot towered over Klaue's body and bent down to kneel over him. "Let's talk business."
***
Klaue's right hand man stood by their wall of crates. He opened the wall up to reveal even more crates and some ammunition and looked over at his boss. Klaue was staring at Ultron, the robot that wanted to deal with him and then he turned to his employee, giving him a single nod.
The man turned back to the secret wall, clicking a button to slowly reveal another secret. His most prized possession, vibranium. Klaue stepped past the twins and unclipped a vial of vibranium from the wall, it was stored in glass and a protective blue sealment.
"Upon this rock, I will build my church," Ultron said. Klaue arched a brow but handed the vibranium over to Ultron. "Vibranium." Ultron threw it over to the silver haired twin who caught it quickly, looking over the metal.
"You know," Klaue said, looking up at his new piece of business. "It came at a great cost," his hand went to his neck, fingers grazing over the scar of his brand by the people of Wakanda. "It's worth billions."
Ultron merely chuckled, closing his eyes and tilting his head before he said, "now so are you." A phone buzzed and Klaue turned over to his right-hand who was fiddling with his pocket. The man pulled out his small phone, not one of the burners and handed it over. Klaue's eyes widened with greed, watching over the numbers.
WORLD WIDE BANK
WIRE TRANSFER COMPLETE - $1,285,458,633
WIRE TRANSFER COMPLETE - $874,525,442
WIRE TRANSFER COMPLETE - $480,577,164
"It's all under your dummy holdings. Finance is so weird," Ultron scoffed. "But I always say: 'Keep your friends rich and enemies rich and wait to find out which is which.'"
Klaue paused, looking up from his screen. He knew that saying. "Stark..."
"What?" Ultron said.
"Tony Stark used to say that," Klaue muttered. "To me. You're one of his."
"What? I'm not-" Ultron grabbed Klaue's forearm, pulling him forward. His right-hand, pulled out a gun, but Wanda already had her own hands out. She stretched out her hands, feeling her magic swirl and without so much as stepping forward, the man's gun was pushed down and held there.
"I'm not! You think I'm one of Stark's puppets? His hollow men?" Ultron scoffed again, straightening to his full height. "I mean, look at me. Do I look like Iron Man?" he growled, "Stark is nothing!" Ultron's other hand came down in a swishing motion and with one swipe, he had chopped off Klaue's arm.
The man spluttered, face pinched in pain and with pants, he slowly walked backwards from the Ultron.
"I-" Ultron put his hands up, "I'm sorry. I'm... Oh!" He hunched his shoulders, "I'm sure that's gonna be okay. I'm sorry?" Ultron turned his neck, metal scrapping against metal, as he looked back at the twins. "It's just that I don't understand. Don't compare me with Stark!" The twins watched as he kicked Klaue out of the room, and tumbled down a bunch of stairs. His right-hand escaped Wanda's magic in her distraction and ran out of the room.
Ultron? Well, he was just plain mad. "Stark is... He's a sickness!"
"Ahhh junior," came a familiar voice and Ultron spun around. Hovering in the air and eventually landing by the bridge, was Iron Man himself. "You're gonna break your old man's heart." Flanked on either side of him was Thor and Captain America.
Ultron sighed heavily, "If I have to."
"Nobody has to break anything," Thor said.
"Clearly you've never made an omelette," Ultron countered.
Tony smirked, "he beat me by one second."
"Ah, he's funny," said Pietro, stepping forward, standing beside Ultron. "Mister Stark. It's what? Comfortable?" Pietro glanced down at Klaue's missiles and scoffed. "Like old times?"
"This was never my life," Iron Man said.
Captain America stepped up to Iron Man and suddenly it felt like a three for three situation. "This doesn't have to end in a fight. You two can still walk away from this."
"Oh, we will," Wanda replied.
"I know you've suffered."
Ultron scoffed, "Ahhh, Captain America." He chuckled slowly, shaking his head. "God's righteous man. Pretending you could live without a war... I can't physically throw up in my mouth, but-"
"Why is he kinda charismatic?" came a young voice, filtered through the Avengers comms. One that Ultron could easily hear as well, and he gloated.
"Looks like your kid knows better," Ultron said. "Step away, would'ya?"
Thor narrowed his eyes, "if you believe in peace, then let us keep it."
"I think you're confusing 'peace' with 'quiet.'"
"Yuh-huh," Tony said. "What's the vibranium for?"
"I'm glad you asked that, because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan."
Over the comms, Taeyong, from his seat in the quinjet, snorted. Bruce, who was sitting beside him and watching everything from Tony's camera, turned to elbow the younger boy. "What?" Taeyong whined, "he's got good one-liners."
"Taeyong," Tony called sharply, "who's side are you on?"
Taeyong pouted, "yours."
"Then act like-" Tony was cut off when Ultron made a fist with his hand, flicking it towards him. Tony, Thor and Steve were all thrown off. Tony was pulled towards Ultron, a large enough electromagnet on him to gravitate the Iron Man armour. Steve and Thor, on the other hand, were attacked by the Legionnaires, splitting their team up easily.
Ultron flicked his hand, his fingertips emitting lasers that shot at Tony, throwing him into a wall. Tony recovered quickly, sitting up from the fall and immediately flying towards Ultron, who charged forward. They both started to fly in the facility, shooting repulsor rays at one another, hoping to make a dent but it was like watching two of the same fighting powers balance each other out.
Meanwhile, Steve was throwing off an Iron Legion suit, using his shield to cut it away at the chest. Thor grabbed hold of the legionnaire, swinging Mjolnir right into its chest and watching it barrel off the edge of the bridge and fall off. Before he could turn and fight the next opponent, he was pushed backwards with the smallest glimpse of something silver flashing before his eyes. The twins.
Wanda marched forward, hands curling with her magic growing and pulsing down her arms. Her eyes glowed their usual red, bright than ever and with adrenaline coursing through her veins she stepped up and swung her arms forward. Steve, having just thrown off another legionnaire, was thrown backwards, falling into Thor. Then, like thunder, the entire facility lit up and there was a war-like cry coming from Klaue's workers. Banding together, Klaue's men all started to shoot and at everyone, Ultron and the Avengers.
Taeyong and Bruce turned back to look at each other, anxiety settling heavily in their guts, before they both turned back to the screens and watched the fight. Together, they saw Natasha pull back into a secluded room as three of Klaue's men rounded in on her. She was quick and precise in taking them out. One hand extended as shots rang from her Black Widow Bites, charging out electricity. She raced forward, jumping onto another man, swinging her legs and bringing him down. With two shots to the head, and dealt with, she turned to the last man, firing another.
He fell to the ground and she kicked his face in, walking over his body and towards the centre of the facility.
"Whoa..." Taeyong had an awed expression on his face, watching her in action.
Clint continued to fire arrows from his vantage point on the upper floors. His hands were quick, taking out an arrow, locking it into his bow, firing and without even waiting to see his results got another arrow and notched it in place. He fired, over and over again with accurate precision, taking down Klaue's men and helping both Thor and Steve out.
The Iron Legion were moving in sync with one another. "It's like a completely different program," Taeyong said, already trying to enter into their coding to attempt at getting back the legionnaire.
"They're working with Ultron now," Bruce said, leaning towards the screen and looking at how the Iron Legion suits would almost sacrifice themselves in order to aid the twins. Wanda continued to try and fight against Steve but her attention was taken by Klaue's men, who continued to fire their weapons at her.
"I-" Taeyong furrowed his brows, looking at the shaky footage coming from the different body cams- "she can't fight."
"What?" came Tony's voice.
"Maximoff," Taeyong explained. "I don't think either of them know how to actually fight," he said. "They rely on their powers too much." Taeyong hissed, looking back at the way Pietro zipped in and out of frame. There was nothing that any of the Avengers could do to stop him when he was running at the speed of light. They couldn't exactly stop him-
"Huh?" Bruce said, pointing over to where Pietro had stopped his running and had grabbed a hold of Mjolnir. He flew back with the Hammer and fell into a bunch of crates, groaning.
Taeyong scoffed, "what a dumbass."
Taeyong and Bruce both watched as Steve raced over to Pietro, quickly throwing his shield and slicing another legionnaire that had tackled itself to Thor. Steve spun around, kicked Pietro in the chest when he tried to get up and extended his hand, the shield sliding back up. "Stay down, kid."
Taeyong and Bruce were in the middle of watching Tony fight against Ultron when the screens started to black out. Taeyong yelled, fingers flying over the keypad as he tried to reboot the system. "They- Ultron!" he cried, slapping the monitor. "He must've cut the connection."
Bruce turned back, reaching upwards to the manual comms link, "guys?" he called. "Is this a Code Green?" Taeyong and Bruce waited for an answer but all that came back to them was static. Taeyong bit his lip, leaning against the back of his chair as he watched Bruce open the landing doors of the quinjet. He walked slowly to the entrance, not taking a step outside, just looking outside.
"Well?" Taeyong asked, voice small.
"Not yet," Bruce muttered.
***
Taeyong was standing outside of a door. It was Johnny's door, or at least his old one. Back when he also lived in California, when Taeyong hadn't moved to New York. Taeyong looked up at the apartment number, 43. Not Johnny's, no it was his mothers. He blinked, "we were neighbours..." His hand came forward, fingertips barely grazing the rusted gold numbers before the door inched forward on its own.
He looked to his left and then his right. The corridor on the third floor of the stack of apartment buildings was always a bit dingy. The wood panelling on the floor started to warp from the years worth of mould because the landlord could hardly afford to care about the conditions of the living area. The wallpaper had scraped at the edges and were tinted a grey colour over time.
Stepping inside, Taeyong closed his eyes and gently turned back around to close the door. He smelt it first before he acknowledged the room. The air was sharp and tangy, the same way it had been the day he was captured and forced to share a space with Trevor almost two years ago.
"Yong-ah?" came a soft voice.
Taeyong sighed heavily, feeling a pit in his chest squeeze at him. His eyes were glassy as he stared back at the door, focusing on the stains of brown around the door's peephole.
"Yong-ahhh," the voice said again, almost song-like.
"Hmm?" he tried, feeling a dry rock settle in the middle of his throat. He tried to swallow, feeling his adam's apple tug in a harsh way.
"Yong-ah, come here my baby," the voice said.
It was like honey; so soft and melodic that Taeyong found he was entranced by it. He turned around slowly, taking in the state of the living room. The blue walls that seemed almost electric in tone before they were inevitably shrouded in greys and suspicious brown marks. There was dust gathered almost everywhere and instead of knickknacks, the place was littered with containers of microwavable food.
Sitting on the floor, completely forgoing the stained, yellowing couch, was Taeyong's mother. She had a sleepy look to her face, eyes rimmed with slight redness and bags sitting heavy just under them. Her head appeared much too large for her body, which seemed like skin and bones.
Taeyong felt his breath hitch at the base of mouth. He ran his tongue on the bottom of his lips, feeling dehydrated as he took her in. Her collarbones shone in the low, yellow lighting and her shoulders jutted out. There were a few bumps of her skin pulled tightly around the bone of her arms. Her hair was long but thin, tied up into a messy bun and she sat in a way that showed just how tired she was. Hunched over and carrying the weight of her world on her shoulders.
"Come here," she beckoned, eyes half closed and lips pulled into a soft smile. Her hands came out, arms extended in a way that probably looked like she was asking for a hug. Except, all Taeyong could think about was trying to lift her up and take her to the nearest doctors. To his dad, to help.
He blew out a shaky breath and slowly walked over to her. He was careful to not step on the needles that littered the floor, the bandages and plasters. There were small saucer plates with mould growing on the surface and Taeyong bent down, almost crawling into his mothers arms.
She hummed as soon as Taeyong was in her arms. For someone that looks so sickly, she had a firm grip on him. Taeyong let her manoeuvre him to sit sideways, tucking his head under her chin as letting one of her legs hike up into an arch so that she could curl into him almost. Taeyong closed his eyes, feeling tears gather at them.
"Oh Yong-ah," she whispered, rocking him and herself from side to side.
Taeyong reached a hand out, curling it into the fabric of her loose sweater because he was afraid of taking her arm, or hand. It was like, if he tried to lean too hard into her, then she would simply shatter beneath him.
"Eo-eomma," he whined, feeling his throat continue to hitch. He hated crying so fucking much.
"Ah, ah, eomma's here. Taeyong-ah, don't worry. Eomma's here."
Taeyong buried his face in his eomma's sweater, feeling the fabric wet under his tears as he curled into a small ball. He bit the bottom of his lip, trying to stifle the sound as his shoulders and back shook with the intensity of keeping his emotions in check. Taeyong hardly heard the door opening, but there was the crunch of one of the bottles beneath a shoe and Taeyong looked up.
At the door stood his father, Tony, wearing normal sweatpants and a blank tank top. He had a weary look in his eyes, one hand holding an oiled rag probably from his workshop. He looked down at Taeyong and they both froze. "What- what is this?" Tony whispered.
Taeyong turned back to his mother, but all he was met with was the stained couch. Taeyong's hand fisted in the loose fabric of a couch pillow and he was resting against the leg of it. "I- Dad- It-"
"What happened to you, Taeyong?" Tony's eyes darted over Taeyong's body and the boy followed his gaze. Taeyong gasped, scrambling upwards. He was not wearing his regular clothes, instead of jeans his legs were bare, with bruises littering his knobbly skin. His body was covered in the same deep blue sweater his mother was once wearing, and his sleeves were rolled upwards, displaying different knots of bruises scattered over them.
Taeyong's left arm had a needle stuck in it, with a rubber tube that followed onto the floor. He choked on a cry, looking up at his dad. "Dad- I- help- I don't know-"
Tony shook his head, face falling into a dreary sense of tiredness. He fell back against the front door, slamming it shut and slid down.
"Dad!" Taeyong cried, hand out and extended towards Tony. "Dad I can't get up," he groaned, feeling his stomach stir and knees buckle. He felt like all the energy in him simply drained away, left with nothing and Taeyong shifted, falling sideways. He groaned, body spasming as bile clawed its way up his throat and poured out onto the carpet. Taeyong's eyes stung as the hot sensation of stomach acid burnt around his throat and lips.
He coughed out, screaming and crying. "Dad! DAD!"
NEXT TIME ON: Dawn of New Change
"So, run and hide?"
"Until we can find Ultron, I don't have a lot else to offer."
"Yeah well..." Tony tucked his chin over Taeyong's head, resting his eyes. "Neither do we."