Title: pandora's box of odds and ends
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe's Avengers
Summary: AU. Ultron's code stretched and the first thing he comprehended about his mission were the Chitauri, the Invaders. (The battle for New York did not end well.)
A/N: Just...gonna start writing this. I probably haven't done enough rewatches of like the whole MCU so far for this, but just gonna write and post. Thank you lemonadesoda for the encouragement on this.
Disclaimer: I own nothing related to the Avengers.
Chapter 2
While they were on the move, the Avengers also cooperated on cooking, and even took turns.
On the night of Ultron's creation and after a debriefing the Avengers gave him, it was Thor's turn to cook. It did not escape the Asgardian's notice how the fledgling creature had intently watched what he was doing, curious. Ultron had watched them eat with just as much interest, until he had stiffly stood up and tried to leave for some other area of the compound (Natasha and Clint had said it was an abandoned S.H.I.E.L.D. site). It was only then that Thor realized how excluded he must have felt, being unable to eat like the others.
The Asgardian had caught Tony and Bruce's eye, and a similar realization seemed to light up in their glance. Their mouths were full, and before they could quickly swallow and possibly gag in an attempt to draw Ultron back, Thor spoke easily.
"Ultron, wait," he called to the fledgling, and gestured for him to sit back down, and in a closer seat. "I was just about to tell the story about how Sif and the Warriors Three—"
Ultron tilted his head. "Who?"
Thor's smile widened. "Of course, you have not heard of them. They are great heroes of Asgard, and I am honored to call them my friends..."
So Thor told Ultron and the others stories of his comrades and Asgard (careful to leave Loki out). Though Ultron would interrupt with questions about the tale and Jarvis would advise him to wait until Thor was finished, the Asgardian was pleased to answer them all; and as he went, he tried to anticipate where to include explanations before the question could be asked. This continued until the meal was finished.
Besides the inability to eat, another point of difference came up soon after that, when Clint said it was time for lights out.
###
"Sleep? I don't feel tired," Ultron said, his voice stubborn. "Jarvis, do you need sleep?" He asked, cocking his head to one side.
"I do not require it," the older A.I. said. "When the others sleep, I maintain surveillance."
"Ultron's like Jarvis, isn't he?" Steve asked, facing Tony and Bruce. The two shared a look, eyes widening, as if they had just realized something.
Tony seemed to be calculating something very quickly in his head. "Probably not—"
Bruce seemed to think more slowly, carefully. "—but there's the fact that—"
"—I'm standing right here," Ultron cut in, sounding annoyed. "And no, I don't need to sleep."
Natasha, whose eyes had been darting from each individual speaker, finally spoke. "When you said you were trying to make a living brain, how literal were you being?"
Ultron tilted his head, and Bruce sighed. "Pretty literal." The scientist carefully turned to the young A.I., minding the bandages under his shirt. "Your mind was essentially made to...think like a human's; it might need to rest like one too, even if your physical body doesn't."
"I'm not gonna lie back down and try counting sheep," Ultron said, voice both holding mockery and an unwillingness to yield.
"Take the first shift with me then," Tony said, popping up from the chair he'd been sitting in. "Jarvis doesn't keep an eye out alone; we still sleep in shifts, normally just two of us keeping watch until the next team's turn."
"Except you're not taking the first shift, Tony," Clint said.
"Ha," Ultron said, and Tony favored him with a little annoyed glare before turning to Clint.
Tony opened his mouth, but Clint cut him off; "Bruce got to rest—"
Tony immediately pointed out, "He was injured—"
"—and you've barely slept while finishing up with our newest recruit," finished Clint, nodding to Ultron. "You need to recharge."
Bruce spoke up. "I can stay up with Ultron fir—"
"No, Tony's right, you're still injured," Clint said.
"And so are you—all three of you are out for first shift," Natasha said.
"Then are the rest of you going to pick straws or...?" Ultron asked, hoisting himself up on what had served as the dinner table.
Natasha arched a brow at the young A.I., corners of her mouth marginally lifting. "Rock, paper, scissors."
Thor's paper beat Natasha and Steve, winning him first shift keeping watch with Jarvis and Ultron.
The older A.I. shared the makeshift surveillance system with Ultron. After Ultron had established a link with the system, Jarvis showed him the protocols and other relevant data for the task. Ultron controlled the few working cameras along with Jarvis; he was in the available sensors with the older A.I.
The rocks, the dirt, the trees, the sky—Ultron could see them through camera lens, sensor, and monitor. The sight was interesting, and Ultron was seized by the desire to go outside and see for himself, touch, explore, fly up into that sky. He thought he would go outside when surveillance was done and the others were awake.
Ultron enjoyed the shift with Thor, who continued to whisper stories to him about Asgard, while careful to pay attention to the few monitors salvaged for watch duty.
When it came time for teams to switch shifts, Ultron felt zero drop in mental energy and insisted he could still stay up on watch duty. Ultron listened to the others decide Tony, Bruce, and Clint wouldn't be up for keeping watch tonight at all, that they should rest; the fact that those three had not stirred from their slumber during this murmured discussion helped their argument.
So after Thor, Ultron and Jarvis kept watch with Natasha.
###
Jarvis was more open to conversation, but Ultron had tried to ask Natasha some things too. Get her to talk as well. Her responses were minimal and finally she advised him to focus on surveillance, but her tone did not show irritation. She was rather patient with him. And her advice didn't stop there; Natasha told him quite a few things about what to watch out for, the nature of stealth and tracking (or a peek at the subject).
Presently, the young A.I. started to toy with a loose wire that dangled from a gap in his wrist.
He was surprised when Natasha finally looked perturbed, but felt rather gratified over finally annoying her, to see something really change on her face. Her mouth twisted, eyes narrowing. "Should you be playing with that?" She gestured to the wire pinned between his fingers.
In response, Ultron loosened his grip on the wire a little, and wiggled it in Natasha's direction.
"I'll wake Tony," she threatened.
Ultron was a little embarrassed with how fast he released the wire, but the thought of Tony up and fussing had been extremely unwelcome, and Natasha had seemed dead serious.
The young A.I. hunched into himself then and turned away from Natasha a little, focusing all his attention on a monitor. He had been intent on ignoring her for the rest of the shift, preoccupied with other things on his mind: lingering embarrassment, along with some resentment and wariness and anxiety and other tangled emotions he didn't really understand. Ultron didn't even try talking to Jarvis again.
But then Natasha had made some jokes that made him snicker. And then she told him riddles. He tried guessing, but that didn't work out too well; Natasha would give him the answer, and when that raised more questions, she gave more context. It was all rather enjoyable, actually; it was like playing with words, and there was new data to learn. Natasha shared riddles with Ultron until Steve took over.
###
"...How are you holding up?"
"...Fine?" Then Ultron's voice grew annoyed. "I told you and the others, I'm not tired."
Steve gave a small laugh. "I didn't mean to nag."
The young A.I.'s shoulders lost their tension as he slumped down slightly, and he gave a shrug. "You've done it less than Tony so far." He crossed his arms. "Um...thank you, I think? That's the thing to say? Yes, thank you for that, by the way. For earlier. Not treating me like I was incapable."
"Your welcome, I...know the feeling, or something like it." Steve quietly said. In a slightly louder voice, he continued, "Tony might've been sort of nagging...but he really was just concerned. You're new, it's not...not because he thought you couldn't do it by yourself."
"Uh huh," Ultron said, voice still skeptical.
"I'm serious," Steve said, sounding amused.
"How would you even know?" Ultron asked, knowing that if he had any brows, one would've been arched by now.
"Well, I have known Tony longer than you." Steve then frowned, seeming to reconsider, though his eyes were smiling. "Slightly longer. More than your grand total of a few hours, at least."
Despite himself, Ultron chuckled a little.
###
In the morning, after Ultron had left the surveillance system and closed his link to it, Thor asked Ultron to help him cook, just a little bit. The A.I. repeated some of the things he'd seen Thor do last night, and with the Asgardian's pleased approval. Thor taught him some new methods too. He did not get to directly handle food, just the tools—but he liked tools, and overall the whole thing was rather interesting, even enjoyable to Ultron.
The young A.I. found he actually liked feeding organics.
A/N: This was actually longer, but decided to split up into two chapters. So the next update should be coming up soonish.
