Chapter 4
The first explosion caused dust to fall from the ceiling. The second made the lights flicker. It was only the third that made her stand and walk to the door of the cell. Peering through the bars in the metal window, she could see that there were no guards in the hall.
Two more explosions, close together. She could faintly hear the clamor of guards scrambling down the hall.
After innumerable explosions and wisps of distant shouts, she heard a close, familiar noise. Pietro stood in the now open door. "Come on, we're leaving." He took her hand as she stood from where she had fallen, grabbed the back of her neck, and in the blink of an eye, they were in the gear room adjoining to one of the labs. Pietro gestured around them, "I've seen you in here before, get what you need."
A mission, it must be a mission. Body working on autopilot, she quickly went through the well-learned motions. It must be some kind of mission. There's no other reason she would be in the gear room. She quickly strapped on her armor, and grabbed 2 handguns and a few knives.
"Ready?" He asked. She responded with only a nod.
He whssshed them outside, through the train tunnel. He pointed further down the tracks. "We're meeting my sister Wanda down there. Keep going and you'll find her." With that, he was gone.
It must be a mission.
She followed the tracks as he said. The shouts and sounds of weapons firing that echoed down from further up the mountain began to die off. Not far down the tracks, she found a girl, with ratty brown hair and a black dress. She seemed... Strange. As if an aura of power surrounded her. After a moment, she raised an eyebrow slightly and spread her hands. "You can come closer, you know. I'm not going to hurt you." Her voice was scratchy, slightly lilting, and very beautiful. "I'm Wanda. Pietro told me about you."
Cautiously, the newcomer approached Wanda, who gave a soft, crooked smile. Soon after, Pietro appeared in their midst, his blue wake down the mountain quickly evaporating. The three of them took a glance at the now silent castle, and then began to make their way down to the city. The twins led the way, as they knew where would be the best spot to hide out at before they made their next move, the unnamed shadow drifting behind.
When they reached the city, the first thing they did was find an abandoned alleyway that they could use as a temporary hideout. Pietro and Wanda left the other girl there to stand watch, and left to gather necessities. They swiped some clothes from a shop, along with a bag and some food. Evening was setting in as they headed back, and they were close to the alley when a glow in a window caught Pietro's eye. He grabbed the glowing bauble from the windowsill, and showed it to Wanda, whispering a suggestion in her ear.
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She was still standing lookout at their hiding place in the city. To anyone else, she might look like a homeless teen, with the ratty blanket wrapped around her disguising her uniform and weapons. She saw Wanda and Pietro round the corner to the street, easily chatting and smiling away. When they saw her waiting for them, Wanda said something else to Pietro and hurried towards her, a new, red scarf fluttering around her.
"We found something for you!" Wanda said, with a bright, slightly crooked smile. She prompted Pietro with a hit from her elbow.
A bit shyly, Pietro pulled something from his pocket: a small plastic star, emitting a soft, green glow. "You said you didn't have a name. We saw this, and it reminded me of you, and I thought... Stella. Star."
"Stella." The newly-named girl softly repeated. She gently took the star in her hand, holding it as if it were the most delicate and precious thing in the world. "Thank you," she said, in barely more than a whisper, briefly meeting their eyes with the faintest of smiles. All three realized simultaneously that right then was the first time any of them recalled seeing her smile.
They then presented her with the clothes they had procured for her, which she accepted with equal gratitude: a black shirt and pants, with a blue over shirt, green peacoat, and a pair of brown boots. Wanda helped her stash her weapons and armor in the bag. The twins stayed and talked with her for a few minutes, coaxing out what few words they could from her, before they headed out into the city again, leaving her to ponder all that had just happened.
"Star!" Her head eagerly jerked up at the sound of her new name. She grabbed the bag and ran towards the twins, who were beckoning her from the end of the alley. They told her that they needed to go to a church in the center of the city, that something important was there.
She followed them to the church, where a large figure by the alter was covered by a shawl. Wanda summoned a few wisps of red energy in her hand, eyes glowing threateningly as she approached the figure. "Talk. And if you're wasting our time..." She let the threat hang in the still air, but the figure spoke suddenly, with no fear.
"Did you know this church is in the exact center of the city?" It's voice was deep, metallic, and certainly not human. "The elders decreed it, so that everyone would be... equally close to God. I like that. The geometry of belief." It moved slightly, a slight whirr accompanying the motion. "You're wondering why you can't see inside my head," It stated matter-of-factly, addressing Wanda directly.
"Sometimes it's hard," She tilted up her head in defiance of this menacing creature, but still glanced back to her brother and new friend in concern. "But sooner or later, every man shows himself."
"Oh, I'm sure they do," The giant figure said condescendingly, finally rising to its full height. Stella gasped and took a step back in fear. She had seen robots before, she had seen the Winter Soldier's arm, she had even seen Zola, and his mechanized brain. But they were nothing like this. The metal creature was nine feet of wires and lights and metal, glowing red eyes and steel mouth simultaneously far too human-like and utterly alien.
"But you needed something more than a man," It continued in its horrible voice. "That's why you let Stark take the scepter."
"I didn't expect..." She gestured to the robot. "But I saw Stark's fear. I knew it would control him, make him self destruct."
"Everyone creates the thing they dread," The robot agreed. "Men of peace create engines of war, invaders create Avengers, people create..." He paused for a moment, blinking in confusion. "Smaller people?" He held up his hand as if to capture the lost word. "Children! I lost the word there." He chuckled to himself, the range of emotions making him even more human-like. "Designed to supplant them, to help them... end."
"Is that why you've come?" Wanda asked, stepping forward boldly. "To end the Avengers?"
"I've come to save the world," He said grandiosely. "But also, yeah." He began to walk out of the church, beckoning them to follow him.
"Wait a second." Pietro approached the robot now. "What are you?"
The robot turned his red eyes on the blond twin. "A suit of armor around the world," He said. "I'm Ultron." With that, he turned and walked out. The three companions shared a glance, then followed him.
They followed Ultron to the outskirts of the city, where they entered a winding underground complex, full of machines bustling around and building things, adding to the structure. It was like nothing any of them had ever seen, like a trip to doomsday Disneyland. Ultron led them to a large room, where even more robotic forms were under construction. "We'll move out right away. This is a start, but there's something we need to begin the real work." He walked over to a half constructed body, touching it softly, almost tenderly. "All of these are me. I have something the Avengers never will: harmony. They're discordant. Disconnected. Stark's already got them turning on each other." He turned to Wanda. "And when you get inside the rest of their heads..."
"Everyone's plan is not to kill them," Pietro said impatiently, clearly getting worn thin with the pompous Ultron.
"Then make them martyrs." He walked closer, causing Stella to inch back from her place behind Pietro. "You need patience. Need to see the big picture."
"I don't see the big picture," Pietro stood his ground, silencing the slightest tremor of emotion in his voice with a clench of his fist. "I have a little picture. I take it out and look at it, every day." His eyes fell to the floor as an all too familiar wave of sadness washed over him.
"You lost your parents in the bombings. I've seen the records." There was sympathy in Ultron's mechanical voice, and somehow his metal face softened.
"The records are not the picture," Pietro said, visibly getting angrier.
"Pietro," Wanda put out her hand to calm her brother down before he did anything rash.
Ultron, however, seemed intrigued, and almost... sad. "No, please."
Despite seeming shaken by the robot's empathy, the enhanced continued: "We were 10 years old. Having dinner, the four of us. When the first shell hits, 2 floors below, it makes this hole in the floor. It's big. Our parents go in..." He faltered for a moment. "And the whole building starts coming apart. I grab her, roll under the bed, and the second shell hits. But it doesn't go off. It just... sits there in the rubble. 3 feet from our faces. And on the side is painted one word..." His voice broke off.
"Stark," Wanda said, putting a hand on Pietro's shoulder, as much for her support as his. Pietro took a deep breath, and resumed his haunting tale.
"We were trapped for two days. Every effort to save us, every shift in the bricks, I think 'This will set it off.'"
"We wait for two days for Tony Stark to kill us." Wanda finished.
Ultron looked away, pondering something. "I wondered why only you two survived Stucker's experiments." He looked back to them, and approached. "Now I don't." The automaton turned towards Stella. "And you. Why are you here?"
"I don't work for Hydra anymore." It was the first thing to fall out of her mouth. No, she didn't. They didn't have her anymore.
"Hydra... You're a Winter Soldier, aren't you?" He asked. Stella's face blanched in terror. How did he know? What else did he know? "That will make you very useful. I can help you get revenge on your former masters. You won't be a servant again. I just need you to help me defeat the Avengers."
The Avengers... Hydra hated them. And because of that, they had trained her on how to eliminate them. She knew everything about them, how to best attack them, which ones were most unwilling to harm civilians, which ones were most likely to support each other. She looked up at Ultron's metal face, and nodded solemnly.
"We can hurt them," Ultron said, looking from Star to Pietro. "But you will tear them apart... from the inside." He reached out a hand, barely brushing Wanda's face.
A human sized robot entered the room, opened its face, and projected a hologram of the globe. The humans in the room hardly batted an eye, it wasn't any stranger than anything else in their lives. There were several areas on the map that were highlighted, some of which Stella recognized as points of Hydra's interest. She had smuggled information from at least 1. "We need some supplies before we're ready. Think of it as practice. I can be there to help you, but I need these things."
He pointed out where they needed to go first, a jet propulsion laboratory. He and his machines would get the jets and fuel he needed, they just needed to help him get in.
"When do we leave?" Wanda asked, flexing her hands as wisps of red curled around them. A large metal door opened to their right.
"Now." Ultron turned towards the door and walked out, the twins and Stella just behind.