House of Metal 3
To declare that Ned Stark was worried would be to greatly underestimate his emotions, or overestimate if one judged only by appearance. Robert Baratheon, luckily, had known Ned for nearly his entire life, and gotten a good grip on his friend's emotional range.
Thus why he was the one to tell Ned, "Stop worrying, our chilcren could just be getting to know each other!"
Such a declaration didn't really help Ned's mood, in fact it probably added onto it, because why would it take until the break of dusk to get to know someone? He took till dusk to get to know Kat once, and that was how Robb was conceived.
He wasn't ready to be a grandfather just yet.
Thankfully his terror at that knew thought couldn't escalate into a full blow eyebrow raise, because at that moment the door to the room where he and Robert were in was thrust open and Jory Cassel and Jamie Lannister jump into the room.
The pair, who really before this moment hadn't been friendly or really acknowledged each other, share a conspiratory look. They lock eyes and seem to debate silently for a moment, then Jory sighs and steps forward, "Begging your pardon m'lords, but we've found Ladies Arya and Sansa, as well as the Prince."
"Apparently they made a friend in the woods," Jamie cuts in with a roll of his eyes.
"A friend?" Robert asks
"Yes, a tall… golem… I think the term from the Essos is," Jamie supplies
This really doesn't help the king and he prompts, "The fuck's a golem?"
"A man made of steel, apparently," Jamie shrugs, "Tyrion once showed me a book on greyscale, and he said it was like they were being turned into golems. I asked, and he explained."
"Our children have made friends with a man infected with dgreyscale!?" Ned asks, stepping forward and moving his arms to his sides, away from his chest.
"No m'lord," Jory shakes his head, "What the Kingslayer meant was that the man seems to be made of metal."
"Made of metal?" Ned furrows his brow
"Yessir," Jory nods, "Maester damn near keeled over when he first got a gander. Started ranting about witchcraft or something."
"Well, let's go meet this new friend of our children," Robert prompts
Ned nods, and the four head out of the building and into the camp. Standing in the middle of a large circle of gawking Lannister, Baratheon, and Stark men, stands a giant made of metal.
Robert gives a snort when he sees what the giant is holding: Joffrey held up by the back of his shirt, dangling upside down in its grip.
Ned however is following the eyes of his men, and his own mouth falls open in shock when he sees the Hound. The massive swornsword of the Prince hangs unsupported a full man's height off of the ground. Ned traces the Hound's terrified gaze back to the golem, which has a dark smile on its face, and a glowing hand outstretched towards the flying man.
"Now, are we ready to talk like civilized people?" the golem asks, his question directed at the Hound
"I'd fuckin sing! Just put me down!" the Hound practically begs, a new fear quickly joining his long standing one of fire. It didn't take a genius to know that being high without something to stand on meant falling, and falling meant death.
The Hound is lowered to the ground, and just as he does there is a great screech from the end of the circle opposite Ned and Robert, and Cersei Lannister's voice comes out, "Kill Him!"
Ned groans as almost without fail, all of the Lannister men draw their blade, as to the Baratheon men. His men don't, mostly because they seem to be in the back of the crowd for the most part, it also helps that he didn't draw his own sword.
"Belay that!" Robert bellows from beside him, and the fat king starts towards the golem.
The golem drops Prince Joffrey, and the boy gives an undignified grunt before crawling away from the giant metal monstrosity. He stops at his father's feet, and the king gives him a disapproving frown and a shake of the head before his attention returns to the metal man, "Who the hell are ya, then?"
"I am Ultron," The newly named giant declares
"What house are you from?" the king asks next, which begets him a decidedly unflattering look that lacks both patience and restraint.
The responding statement sums that feeling up quite nicely, "Is there anyone here who I can speak to that has more intelligence than a rock, that isn't a child?"
Ned swiftly steps in front of Robert, breaking the man's follow up rant and smoothly says, "I am Lord Eddard Stark, Hand of the King, Warden of the North, and Lord of Winterfell. What is it you want, Ultron?"
"I don't know!" Ultron declares, shaking his head, his right hand gesticulating near his head as his other does so by his waist, "I only came to your camp because I wanted to tell the father of that boy that his behavior is fairly poor. I also wanted to figure out if a theory of mine was correct."
"Was it?"
"It was," Ultron nods, "You look exactly like Sean Bean."
"Who?"
"I'll let your daughter explain," Ultron shrugs. Then he starts to raise into the air and as Ned's mouth grows ever wider, the now flying former world ender tells him, "I'm now off to talk to perhaps the only intelligent person that lives on this world."
