Chapter 5
"You in Spidey?" Peter heard over comms as he slipped into the large metal freighter.
"Yeah I'm in, I've got eyes on Ultron I think. He has a new body. Sending images to your HUD." Peter informed him as he took images of Ultron, Ulysses Klaue and two other targets one female and one male.
"Shit, Struckers experimental twins are with him." Ulysses opened up a shipping container that was filled with barrels. It then started to move down to reveal a second level that seemed to hold a bunch of metal and glass cylindrical containers that had to be containing Vibranium, he tossed one to Ultron.
"Scans show that stuff is the real deal." Peter told as he move slightly closer to hear what they're saying better. His heightened hearing was good but not that good. "It seems Ultron just wired them a large amount of money for it. I'm moving closer to hear more."
"Careful kid."
"Shhhh"
"- 'Keep your friends rich and your enemies rich, and wait to find out which is which.'"
"Stark."
"What?" The random mention of his creators name seemed to throw off Ultron
"Tony Stark used to say that...to me. You're one of his." Ulysses told Ultron and by the look of it Ultron wasn't pleased.
"What?! I'm not...!" Ultron grabbed Klaue by the wrist, "I'm not- You think I'm one of Stark's puppets, his hollow men?" Ultron's voice was getting louder and far more furious than before. Ultron started to raise his arm in the air.
"Move in now! Now!" Peter yelled over comms as he started to swing into action.
"I mean look at me, do I look like Iron Man? Stark is nothing!" Yelled Ultron as he suddenly chopped off Klaue's arm. I'm sorry. I am sor... Ooh, I'm sure that's going to be okay." Peter couldn't quite tell if he was sincere or not. "I'm sorry, it's just I don't understand. Don't compare me with Stark!" He told Ulysses his anger getting the better of him as he kicked Ulysses down the stairs behind him. "He's a sickness!" And on queue Tony came down with Steve and Thor with him. Peter stuck to the wall behind them. He saw the twins next to Ultron preparing for a fight. He had only had a quick briefing on them.
"Ahh, Junior." Tony said with fake sadness in his voice. Thor and Steve stood slightly behind him. "You're gonna break your old man's heart."
"If I have to."
"We don't have to break anything." Thor announced.
"Clearly you've never made an omelet." Ultron told Thor.
"He beat me by one second." Tony commented with slightly disappointment in his voice.
"Ah, this is funny, Mr. Stark. It's what, comfortable? Like old times?
Tony Stark: This was never my life.
"You two can still walk away from this." Peter told them, jumping to the banister to get closer.
"Oh, we will." Wanda said back mattarfactly.
"I know you've suffered." Steve said trying to defuse the situation and connect to them but Peter knew that was the wrong way to go.
But before cap could continue Ultron chuckled. "Captain America. God's righteous man, pretending you could live without a war. I can't physically throw up in my mouth, but..." He then looked to Peter. "And you, you disappoint me joining them. Joining the 'big leagues'. Stark will manipulate you like he does everyone else."
"If you believe in peace, then let us keep it."
"I think you're confusing peace with quiet."
"Yuh-huh. What's the Vibranium for?" Tony asked trying to move the conversation along."
Ultron took a step forward. "I'm glad you asked that, because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan." He activated a magnetic pull causing Tony to move towards him before attacking him, sending him into the wall behind him as the Iron Legions under Ultrons control attack the avengers. Tony got up and both he and Ultron flew at each other and started a fist fight as Iron Legions and the twins started to attack Thor, Steve and Peter. In the mist of all the chaos Klaue commanded his Mirscenary and his new to attack them. Natasha and Barton going the battle with the Iron Legions and Klaue's men. Steve went for Wanda but she nocked him back with he Telekinesis.
As Peter swing kicked one of the legion into Klaues men he saw a silver blur punch Steve in the face. Seconds later he saw the blur become one of the twins again as he grabbed onto Thor's hammer and was flung across the ship to the lower level with it. Peter saw Ultron burst through the ceiling of the ship and Tony followed. Thor and Steve seemed to have it handled as they took down another legion and a group of Klaues men and Peter saw Pietro getting up so he jumped down and punched him in the face knocking him down. "Stay down, man." He then looked up and saw Wanda slipping away after a Legion robot finished talking to her, it eyes changing back from red to blue but before he could follow he was jumped by 3 legionnaires.
"Guys, is this a Code Green?" Peter barely heard Bruce ask, Ultron must be jamming the signal and but was too busy to try and respond it also seemed everyone else was too.
"Thor. Status?" Peter heard through the comms
"The girl tried to warp my mind. Take special care, I doubt a human could keep her at bay. Fortunately, I am mighty." He told them but his voice sort of drifted as he went out of sight for Peter
Peter saw Wanda use her powers on Steve and Natasha messing with their minds Peter assumed it was the same for Thor. He swing up to where Wanda was but she had gone again, or so he thought. She came up behind him and hit him before his Spider-sense could warn himself of her presence. He clutched his head as he bent over. He started to see his villains Rhino charged him but he dodged it. He saw Mysterio flying across the room. Goblin taking a dive for him. He the saw that each of them were hold someone, people he recognised. Sandman had his Uncle Ben, Mysterio had Aunt May, Lizard was holding Ned with his tail hanging him over the railing and last was Green Goblin holding Gwen by her neck. "P-Peter. Help!" She choked out to him. He wanted to charge at them, his anger and grief getting to him as Uncle Ben disappeared in to the Sandman like a quicksand pit, Aunt May disappeared into the green mist, Ned being dropped by Lizard and he heard his scream as he fell. He watched as his loved ones died and he couldn't bare to watch Gwen die again. "Come on Parker think. Think!" He muttered to himself. "Its not real. Not real." He told himself, as he closed his eyes. He focused on what was around him trying to use his Spider-sense to guide him, not many things could trick his sixth sense, that included Wanda's mind tricks. He sense Wanda was near him still using her powers on him, he move his hand to his wrist to manually switch the settings to electric web mode and quickly aimed at Wanda's stunning her. As his senses started to come back to him he saw the silver blur coming and hit him hard to the ground.
"What can I do?" He heard their thick accents next to him.
"Ah, it hurts." Wanda groaned
"I'm kill him."
"No... Lets take him hostage. I want...I want to finish the plan. I want the big one." Peter heard her say as he drifted in and out of consciousness. Before he was fully out he muttered to himself or more specially his HUD's voice command program.
"A-activate... hands off... protocol." And with that he was out cold.
"Thor didn't say where he was going for answers?" Tony asked Steve as they readied up the next log of wood they were going to cut. Tony isn't one for this kind of work but he trying to take his mind on the destruction that was caused because of the fight with Hulk and the fact that Peter had been taken.
"Sometimes my teammates don't tell me things." Steve looked to Clint with his son as they worked on the porch, "I was kind of hoping Thor would be the exception."
"Yeah, give him time. We don't know what the Maximoff kid showed him." Tony told him as Steve cut through another log.
Steve scoffed and walked the axe into the stump,"'Earth's Mightiest Heroes.' Pulled us apart like cotton candy. "
"Seems like you walked away all right."
"Is that a problem?" Steve asked
"I don't trust a guy without a dark side. Call me old fashioned."
"Well let's just say you haven't seen it yet." Steve warned.
"You know Ultron is trying to tear us apart, right? I assume that's why he took the kid."
"Well I guess you'd know. Whether you tell us is a bit of a question.
"Banner and I were doing research.
"That would affect the team."
"That would end the team." Tony said like it was obvious. "Isn't that the mission? Isn't that the "why" we fight, so we can end the fight, so we get to go home?"
Steve shook his head as he grabbed a log and ripped it apart as Tony finished his point. "Every time someone tries to win a war before it starts, innocent people die. Every time. And now the kid could be one of them." He then turned to Tony, "A kid you brought in."
"He's not a kid. He can handle himself." Tony said more for his own benefit, he needed to hear himself say it so he could believe it.
"You better pray he does. What happens to him is on all of us, but mainly you." But before they could get into it more Laura, Clint's wife, interrupts them.
"I'm sorry. Mr. Stark, uh, Clint said you wouldn't mind, but, our tractor, it doesn't seem to want to start at all. I thought maybe you might-"
"Yeah, I'll give her a kick." He turns to Steve as he leaves and points to his pile, "Don't take from my pile." Tony entered the barn and walked over to the tractor in the centre of the room. " Hello, Deere. Tell me everything. What ails you?" He started to fiddle with it when Fury showed up from the other end of the barn.
"Do me a favour." Tony turned to where the voice emanated from. "Try not to bring it to life."
"Ah, Mrs. Barton, you little minx. I get it, Maria Hill called you, right? Was she ever not working for you?"
Fury ignore Tony's question. "Artificial intelligence. You never even hesitated." It was more of a statement than a question.
"Look, it's been a really long day, like, Eugene O'Neill long, I'm not in the mood so how's about we skip to the part where you're useful?"
"Look me in the eye and tell me you're going to shut him down.
Tony reverted back to his child like behaviour as he does from time to time. "You're not the director of me."
"I'm not the director of anybody. I'm just an old man, who cares very much about you." Fury told him as he walked around. "And the kid."
"You know the kid?" Tony asked the Fury gave him a look, "Of course you know the kid."
"I knew his parents. They were S.H.I.E.L.D agents. I took a lot of interest in him when he first showed up. I helped him out and he helped me. Then I found out his identity and out of respect to his parents kept an eye on him. Kept him away from the big stuff."
"And I brought him right into it."
"He couldn't be a friendly neighbour hood hero forever I suppose."
"Yeah but I'm the one who brought him into this mess... And I'm the man who killed the Avengers." Fury looked at Tony confused. "I saw it." He told Fury, "I didn't tell the team, how could I? I saw them all dead, Nick. I felt it. The whole world, too. It's because of me. I wasn't ready. I didn't do all I could."
"The Maximoff girl, she's working you, Stark. Playing on your fear."
"I wasn't tricked, I was shown. It wasn't a nightmare, it was my legacy. The end of the path I started us on."
"You've come up with some pretty impressive inventions, Tony. War isn't one of them."
"I watched my friends die. You'd think that'd be as bad as it gets, right? Nope. Wasn't the worst part."
"The worst part is that you didn't." Fury finished the thought for him.
Peter's head rocked side to side as he slowly came to consciousness, he couldn't quite hold his head up properly or open his eyes just yet but he could hear what was going on around him.
"Scream, and your entire staff dies." Ultrons voice echoed slightly around the room, or maybe it was just in Peters head. "I could've killed you, Helen, the night we met. I didn't."
"Do you expect a thank you note?" Peter smiled at this. Loves a bit of sass when in danger. He slowly lifted his head to look at Ultron, Peter noticed his hands were bound behind and feet where bound to each other so he couldn't move much.
"I expect you to know why."
"The Cradle." She realised looking at the object in question as Ultron loomed over her and it. Ultron played a recording of her next. 'This is the next thing, Tony.'
"This...is the next me." He told her as he caressed the Cradle.
"The regeneration cradle prints tissue, it can't build a living body."
"It can, you can. You lack the materials." A legion robot walked forward to show her the container of Vibranium. "You're a brilliant woman, Helen." She turned to look behind her where another legion was, it walked up to her and pressed Loki's sceptre into her chest. Peter wanted to do something but was unable to do anything to help her. "But we all have room to improve." Peter watched as she became a little rigged before relaxing. When she turned back her eyes were bright blue, clearly under some mind control. As Dr Cho got to work and made sure to keep her employees busy Ultron turned to the Twins. "Take Spidey here to another room and keep an eye on him. He might wake up at any moment." So Wanda floated him across to a room near by and set him down in the corner.
"I am bored." Peitro blurted out to Wanda as she started at Peter.
"When aren't you bored?"
Pietro ignored her question and asked his own "Should we take off his mask?" This got Peters attention, he could remember if he activated the the locking mechanism on the mask.
"What?" Wanda asked him.
"Should we take off is mask. See who he is?"
"Why? What would be the point?"
"I want to see what kind of person aligns them self with someone like Stark." Pietro basically spat out Tony's name with venom dripping from it. Wanda said nothing which prompted Pietro to reach forward towards Peter.
"I wouldn't do that." Peter muttered in a very faint sing song voice, his head still hurting.
"What?"
"He said 'I wouldn't try that'." Wanda repeated for him.
"And what are you gonna do about it?" Pietro asked Peter but he got no response so went ahead and tried to lift the mask but his arm recoiled as an high intensity electric shock was sent out.
"I did warn you." Peter said with a faint chuckle. Peter thought he saw a small smile on Wanda as he lifted his head but it was gone when he looked again. "Didn't see that one coming did ya?" With that Pietro said something in Sakovia then told Wanda he was going for a run. "All sunshine and rainbows that one." Peter muttered to himself and then he turned his attention to Wanda, "Is he always so impulsive?" But Wanda chose not to respond, she just stared at him curiously. "No talking? Okay I can deal with that. I'm very good talking at villains and them not joining in the conversation. Lets me practice my social skills." Again, nothing. She said nothing, all she did was look at him more intensely still curious of him. "Not often you get young villains-"
"Why can't I read you easily?"
"Ah! She speaks! Read me?"
"Your mind, I struggled to manipulate it at the shipyard, you broke what connection I had. And now it's very hard to read."
"Not my first time with mind readers. I have some small training from a bald guy I know, that's why I could break an intense attack like yours. Thank you for that by the way, I do love reliving my tragedies."
"But why can't I read you now? Or when you were asleep-"
"I also have a small amount of a metal that stops has been known to stop people from reading brainwaves built into my mask. As I said, not my first time. You're much prettier than the last one I fought." Peter explained. He didn't know why he explained this to her, it wasn't needed and he had no idea where the flirting came from. Peter assumed she chose to ignore the flirtatious comment as she started to blush.
"We are not villains." She said softly.
"What?"
"You called us villains. We are not villains."
"Then what would you call yourself?" Peter asked her.
"Victims... of your boss Tony Stark."
"And that gives you the right to control peoples minds? To manipulate others? To be on the verge of becoming terrorists with a psychopathic murderbot!" Peter exclaimed. "I'm sure you think you have your reasons, I'm sure you've experience tragedies and they may have been Tony's fault. Trust me I know of tragedy-"
"You do not know what I've lost!" She cut him off angrily, "What do you know of tragedy?"
"You do not know me. I know a lot about tragedy."
"I lost my parents at the hands of Tony Stark. A missile of his crashed into my house and killed my parents and almost killed me and my brother. Do not talk to me about tragedy Маленький павучок." She told him with a lot of venom in her voice.
"I know loss Wanda. I really do." He paused for a moment before continuing. "I lost my parents when I was young too and then I know the man who's fault it was." She turned to look at him as he spoke. "I lost the man who raised me after my parents died. I... lost my first love and they were both my fault Wanda. I know tragedy. I know what it can do to you, but you do not need to follow Ultron. You do not need revenge on Tony or the Avengers or the world." She looked a little skeptical. "How can I get you to trust me Wanda?" But she stayed silent. 'Damn.' Peter thought, he knew a way to get her to believe him and see that they were similar to them but was he ready to risk and pay that cost?
"Deactivate 'Hands Off' Protocol." Peter said allowed and he heard as the mask demagnetised from the suit and the electric charge shut down. Wanda looked him curiously.
"What are you-
"Take off my mask Wanda."
"What?"
"Take off my mask, the electric charge is shut off. Take my mask off." Peter told her impatiently.
"Why-"
"The only way I can get you to trust me and see that we are the same is to let you read my mind. So hurry up and take my mask off and probe my brain already!" Peter explained very quickly and he wasn't sure Wanda caught the explanation as she looked very hesitant but then slowly moved and grasp the top of his mask and pulled it off slowly revealing his face to her. He looked her in the eyes and he saw her face change to slight shock."
"You're... young."
"I'm not that young, pretty sure I'm a year older than you." Peter pointed out.
"No I know but... I just thought you would older since you're apart of the Avengers."
"Yeah well, only my second day. Now get to invasion of my privacy." He said dismissing her comment. She pulled up a chair to sit across from him and then placed her fingers on his temples as they glowed red. Peter braced for whatever type of feeling that might hit but nothing happened, if anything it was very calming and less like an invasion privacy, he supposed being a willing subject it didn't hurt so much. He looked at the girl across from him her eyes was closed tight as she surfed through Peters mind she then audibly gasped, then again and again before pulling away quickly. "You okay?"
"How do you... how are you here right now? How do you move and breathe and live with everything you've lost." She asked him as she stared at him, a tear running down her cheek. "How are you filled with so much light? How do you keep going?"
"I keep going in memory of those I have lost. I keep going because it was they would want for me and I would be wasting my life when they no longer have theirs. I do what I do because it is the right thing to do." He told her softly. "Wanda, you can change your path and do what is right. Please, I know you can be good. You looked into my mind, your enemy and you are now crying because of what you saw. You are empathetic and good. Do what is right." They stared at each other for what felt like eternity then a noise from outside the opaque glass windows of the room causing Wanda to snap out of it. She gathered herself before grabbing his mask and putting it back on him before wiping away her tears and leaving the room. Peter sighed, hoping that wasn't a waste.