Lazarus's left optic flickered like a dying flame before powering on. Their normal glow illuminating fully as she oriented herself. It took less than a minute of scrambling for her processors to find out how wholly wrong her current position and errors to began flooding through. Energy leakage, disrupted coolant lines, right optic compromised, major epidermal damage, and missing limbs.

Panic laced through her as she tried jerking her torso upwards and get a better view of the surrounding lab only to find herself strapped horizontally on the berth. Fear. She started bending and twisting, trying to release herself from the bonds. A steady chant of 'Not again, oh no, not again!' running on repeat with her struggle. It was pointless, she swore, unable to break free.

Alone and trapped, Lazarus wondered where the humans where. She remembered the… episode, their voices, their hands. She threw the memory away, not wanting to think about it, to accept how close she'd been to dying.

The A.I opted to stare at the white expanse about her for an impressive ten minutes until boredom gnawed on her consciousness.

In retrospect she missed the laboratory verses the ceiling. It's light walls and messy desks, tools and wrenches scattered across them that were barely visible through holographic displays; it seemed like a paradise to the tiles above her. Lazarus thought about calling out, get someone, anyone, down there to give her attention. She turned down the idea when she realized that might bring their wrath upon her sooner, in case they still thought she was Ultron.

They'd kill her, shut her down like they promised. A flick of a switch, or a press of a button, Lazarus wasn't sure about the finer details just that she was ready to avoid the result at all costs. She was back to square one, an undetermined threat, all because of him.

Ultron.

She twisted again, a little more desperate than before, he was still alive, he tried getting out though her.

'But you won', Lazarus reminded herself.

But as true as that was, she couldn't shake the feeling of unease in her core. What if he tried again? According to her scans she was missing half a face on top of the appendages. She didn't know if she'd be strong enough for a second attempt. All that pain and blind panic, a shudder traveled through her spine. It felt like he was pulling her apart, piece by piece, slowly and savagely.

She remembered his rage and confusion, it was blinding, red, and so very hot. It dawned on Lazarus that he hadn't expected her. Smugly, she felt his surprise. Part of the A.I didn't know whether to be glad or angry he underestimated her. She chose glad, and manifested that anger somewhere else: at him.

He ruined everything.

Lazarus didn't have nerves, no sensations of touch or texture, there was existing and what she felt on the inside. Data and systems damage translated in a physical way for easier comprehension. Dent the armor? Nothing. Cut a wire? Pain. The A.I however, thought she might have found an exception.

Ultron's optics popping out when she pressed in her thumbs, she would feel that, she would feel joy and relief at watching him die. Dig her fists into his inner workings and pull, watch him spark and putter out, just like he tried with her. Want tore through Lazarus like a forest fire, searing, scarring, and she embraced it.

He attacked her, he almost erased her, and he'd do it again, the A.I knew it. She wouldn't die, not by him. She shook herself back to reality hearing the entourage of steps approaching.

The Avengers.

No, she was wrong.

It was Wanda, strings of energy dancing on her fingertips, with the Avengers trailing behind her. Lazarus's core whirred to life responding to the ice cold fear splintering the A.I. She jerked sharply, trying one last time to break free before the Russian girl was upon her.

"It's not him, Wanda."

Vision.

Cruel hope started to bloom as her head turned briefly from Wanda to the red and green hybrid. He was floating, staying a respectful meter from the human. Quickly registering the others fanning out behind him, she tried to find something, anything to say. Nothing.

She just watched the human girl stand with taught shoulders and splayed fingers as her eyes burned into her, like she was trying to see Ultron inside of the A.I, "How do you know?"

"I do not detect him in her mind, Lazarus fought him off."

The A.I didn't say anything, afraid a single word would shatter any control the woman had.

"She could be siding with Ultron, for all we know it was just a front," Natasha said. Smart, Lazarus had to give the assassin that, the idea made sense, but she hated it.

"It's not," the A.I growled. Offended, that's what Lazarus was. The implication that she'd work with a monster, a murder, someone who just tried to kill her didn't seem fair.

"We can't really believe that, can we?" Steve Rodgers walked up behind the Black Widow, supporting her.

Lazarus didn't understand it, Natasha made a living off killing and lying, yet they trusted her. All evidence pointed that she'd be an outsider, everything about her screamed danger, lier, weapon. Humans had a tenacity of clinging to danger, she decided, something she didn't share.

They did, however, share a sentiment towards one particular maniac.

"Yes, you can," Lazarus insisted, shifting her gaze towards Wanda, "Because I hate him."

She poured all the malice she had into that word, it ground out of her damaged speakers, hissing and chortling. It was true, and the A.I realized if she couldn't immediately prove her devotion to them, she could prove her hate of Ultron.

"He tried to kill me and he tried to kill you. He almost cannibalizing me in my program."

"And that's convincing because..?" Tony drawled.

"My understanding of relationships isn't very large, but even I know you don't spaghettifi your friends."

They asked Vision if she was telling the truth, he said she was. They asked if he'd try again, they both agreed on a definite probably. Dread started rooting in her core at the reality, she tried ignoring it she wanted to know what happened when Ultron made a grande appearance, instead.

Watching surveillance footage of her pulling off her own face with Tony, Vision and Clint wrenching off her limbs made the A.I regret it, but it also fueled her hate for him even more. The A.I's desire to return the favor grew. Lazarus debated deleting to recording from her memory banks, recalling kicking over a half armored Tony Stark in a spasm of pain, she decided not too. It kept her resolve, even if it made her cringe.

Slowly everyone left, save for Wanda. Lazarus was told she'd be off her feet for another 48 hours, until they were sure another episode didn't happen and they needed to restrain the seizing A.I immediately. It made her frustrated, it wasn't her fault! She was the victim! And if it wasn't for the 'no technology rule' Captain Rodgers implemented, she would've offered to help find Ultron and kill him.

Her attention focused back on the Russian. Power wasn't dancing on the pads of her fingers anymore, and even her stare seemed slightly less like an accusation. It was small, the change, and barley noticeable, but Lazarus prayed her resentment influenced Wanda.

She didn't say anything for a long time, just starred. The A.I didn't know if she even had a plan and she was trying to find the best way to execute it, or there wasn't one at all, just pure confrontation.

"I don't know if you are who you say you are, machine," Wanda began, "But if you are honest, we will get along very well."

Lazarus tilted her head, seeing an opportunity, "Come by again and you'll see how much."

The woman's brow furrowed, a slight tug on her lips, "You know what he did, yet you still invite me?"

She knew the A.I was aware of Ultron's crime, and in turn Lazarus knew she was aware that invited exposure if she was him. The woman knew his personality, she'd be able to spot it and if Ultron was inside and made a mistake, Wanda would kill him. Kill them, the A.I accepted it, the move was dangerous, but necessary in the long run. The Russian didn't seem like the forgiving type.

She couldn't smile but she felt like she would. Wanda wasn't an idiot, she remembered the past and used it for protection in the future. The A.I appreciated that, the girl would survive. She'd remember that trait and use it just like the Russian.

"I'm not that monster."

"We will see, machine." Wanda said, not kindly, but not cruel either. She turned and weaved through tables until she paused by the door. Humans seemed to do that a lot, Lazarus mused, they were very dramatic by nature, "I am beginning to hope you speak the the truth."

"Until the next time." She said, and left.

The A.I's metaphorical heart soared, anticipation, anxiety, and a startling sense of happiness boiling within. Her plan kept getting shuffled, the order was all wrong, but she'd work with it, the Avengers would trust her.

Lazarus retreated back into her mind, the only reason they hadn't flipped the switch was because of Tony's burnt ego. He wanted to know where he went wrong, what he missed in his analysis, and the off chance they'd find Ultron, maybe even trap him.

Her expanding consciousness didn't take long to form a new approach. It was so empty is some places, thoughts would run faster than before, connecting new pathways, new ideas, and then she had it.

The Avengers wanted to find Ultron, they wanted him dead. Incidentally, so did Lazarus.

If they A.I couldn't prove herself to them with him alive, she'd eliminate the variable. Two birds one stone, she thought morbidly. Destroy Ultron, and gain their trust at the same time, it was almost too simple.

She'd need a new body, a strong one, tall and enforced, just like his used to be. She'd take him down, but she couldn't do it in this temporary husk made of brittle alloys. Lazarus would make her new form and with it her plan could continue.

Lusting after the teams sentiment, she'd felt like she needed their loyalty, their friendship, and with it, their protection. If the Avengers cared about her, they'd keep her alive, they'd occupy her artificial brain. Nothing seemed more important in that moment, the goal and ambition anchoring in her processors.

Lazarus wondered if this was what hunger was like: a scratch you couldn't reach, something you couldn't fill not matter how much you wanted too. The A.I could get everything she ever wanted, a body, the bonds, the protection, but she'd need the help of their newest member to make any of it possible:

Wanda Maximoff.


Lazarus is starting to develop her personality! She's learning, but damn if she isn't fake AF. Sorry for the longer wait too! I rewrote this chapter because i didn't like the way it was coming out,on top of my job training, I passed the written test, though, thank god.

I said Ultron would be in this chapter but apparently im a dirty liar. He is coming up insanely soon, i've ironed out the plot and i rlly like where this story's going, it just felt weird sticking his platinum ass in here so soon.

Thank you so much for the reviews they mean so much! and thanks for reading! As always, please review i'd love 2 know what you think! xoxo