A/N: The following is based on the footage they showed at Comic Con on Saturday. I listened to the audio of it and knew I had to write this. Enjoy!
Declaration of Intent
It had been three years since the defeat of Loki and the Avengers became global heroes. It had been a year since Captain America, with the help of Black Widow, Falcon and Maria Hill, took down the Hydra infested SHIELD and saved the world from its Insight program.
With SHIELD slowly but surely building itself up under the keen and watchful eyes of one Director Phil Coulson, it was still in no position to protect the world from the shadows like it once was able. The world needed protectors. It needed Avengers.
Tony Stark agreed. Even though he gave up his Iron Man suit(s) as a promise to his beloved Pepper, he knew that the world needed heroes to keep it safe from the insanity and mayhem that seemed to permeate every corner of the globe like a foul odor.
After Hydra's seeming defeat, he reassembled the team within his newly dubbed Avengers Tower. Bruce had already been living with him and Pepper off and on since Loki. Natasha and Steve, as their SHIELD owned apartments, as well as Natasha's various covers, were rendered useless after SHIELD's fall, readily accepted. It took some doing to find him, but they managed to bring a battered and bruised Clint into the fold. Finally, Thor promised to stay with the team when he wasn't needed on Asgard.
It was all coming together. But, the world still needed more protection. The Avengers couldn't have possibly been expected to handle every crisis and fight every bad guy that crawled out of some secret lab. They needed help.
Tony had the brilliant, in theory, idea of the Iron Legion. An armor of Iron Man-esque drones that could be deployed at a moment's notice. It would be supervised and controlled by Jarvis, someone Tony had implicit trust in.
It sounded like a good idea at the time, until Jarvis commented on how controlling the drones was slowing his processing down to a crawl. The work was too taxing, and Tony couldn't in all good conscious burden his friend. So, he devised another AI. While Jarvis was a servant, designed to obey and carry out orders and wishes to his discretion, this one was a leader, a soldier of sorts. It took orders from Tony, but still was able to give orders of its own.
And to make sure that nothing went wrong, Tony imprinted his own brainwave patterns into its programming.
Its name – Ultron.
Some, namely Bruce, said that this was a bad idea, that it was only a matter of time before something went wrong. Tony waved off their concerns and forced ahead.
It all started off so well. The Avengers were able to do their thing while knowing that if they ever needed help or felt overburdened, Tony would deploy a few drones to help them out. All in all, it was all good for Earth's Mightiest Heroes. So far.
One day in particular after a fine day of superheroing, the Avengers decided the throw a party to mingle with New York City's big wigs. Everyone, including James Rhodes and Maria Hill, was invited. It all went well, and they all felt that they made headway into getting further into the city's good graces, as if they weren't already.
When the party was over, Thor had an idea for a fun game. He placed his hammer on the table in the middle of the room. It was actually the first time anyone had inquired about lifting his hammer, to everyone's surprise. Especially with the inscription on the side. 'Whosoever wields this hammer, if he is worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.'
The very words uttered by Odin himself that changed Thor's life forever. For the better.
Clint bent down to get a good look at said inscription. "Whosoever wields this shall the power of – whatever man, it's a trick!" he declared dismissively.
"Shut up," said Tony, who very much so wanted to prove he could lift the hammer.
"It is much more than that, my friend," Thor reassured.
"It's a circus sideshow and that is it. And you know it." To prove his point, Clint cockily tried to lift it. He failed absolutely, much to his embarrassment and confusion.
Natasha giggled. "Way to go, strong guy."
"What, did you superglue this thing to the table?" he demanded.
"Yeah, that's what happened." Bruce chuckled and gave it the old college try. He also failed.
"Other Guy?" Clint suggested.
"He had his shot a few years ago," Bruce informed with a hint of disappointment in his tone. "I doubt it would be a different outcome."
"Do you truly believe that strength is the key to this challenge?" Thor asked, not even bothering to hide his amusement.
Before he could answer, Tony stepped up. "If I lift it, do I get to rule Asgard?"
"Yes, of course," Thor answered, an amused grin on his face.
"I shall be a fair but firm ruler."
"Yes, I am sure." Thor watched him limber up and get a good grip on the handle.
"We'll have to work out the wench clause." He grunted with effort, and managed to move it a maximum total of zero millimeters. He cleared his throat and gestured to Rhodey.
The Avengers laughed as the two men suited up in their respective armors and gathered around the hammer. "Ready?" Tony asked.
"Yeah, on the count of three." They strained themselves and grunted with effort, but even their enhanced and combined efforts only managed the same result Tony by himself did.
"It's rigged!" Tony accused.
Thor roared with laughter. Clint was barely able to catch his breath as Steve stepped up. "Come on, Cap!"
Steve smiled and gave it a shot. To the surprise of absolutely everyone, most of all Tony and Thor, it moved a few inches before dropping back down. "Yeah, it's totally rigged," he said cheekily to Tony, who just rolled his eyes. "Tasha?"
She shook her head and smiled. "That's not really a question I need answered."
"There's gotta be an explanation," Tony posited. "A security code. Whosoever is carrying Thor's fingerprint is, I think, the literal translation."
"Yes!" Clint agreed.
Thor just laughed. "That's a very, very interesting new theory, but I have a simpler one." He summoned his hammer to his hand and have it a spin. "You're not worthy."
They all laughed.
Before Tony could retort, a loud, high-pitch whine rung from the hall leading to Tony's hall of armors. They fell to the floor, clutching their ears and grimacing.
A mix-matched armor, made from literally an assortment of dismantled Iron Man armors shambled in. It's red eyes bored into them as the sound subsided.
Steve stepped on front of Maria and held his shield out. The others drew their weapons and aimed for the Frankenstein armor. "How could you be worthy?" it asked. "You are killers. You want to protect the world, but you don't want to change."
Ultron.
It was supposed to be a good idea that would help the world. Now, it seemed that Bruce's fears had come to fruition.
All good things came to an end eventually.
The road to hell was paved through good intentions.
"I know you're good people. I know you meant well. But you really didn't think this through. There is only one path to peace."
Dozens of robots erupted through the glass and surrounded the team. Ultron walked slowly to the fore of them, keeping his blood red eyes on Tony the entire time.
"Your extinction."
A/N: Expect other stories based on the footage, including Hulk vs Hulkbuster, coming within the next few weeks. Also, I'll be picking What's Wrong With Six back up soon.