Chapter Four: She is Beauty and Grace (Dance with the Devil)
"I have found my star. She is beauty and grace. Elegance and goodness. My laughter in winter. She is courageous and strong. Bold and tempting. Unlike any other in all the universe, and I cannot touch her. I dare not even try." -Sherrilyn Kenyon, Dance with the Devil
(loooooong) A.N. Okay, so there's only thirty three Ultron stories on so far, and only three featuring a redeemed Ultron, I basically said "what the hell, I'll post some more." I already have seven, soon to be eight, chapters done, so I guess I'll keep posting until someone else gets off their ass and decides to write their own shit.
I also made a community called Ultron Redeemed, for all those good!ultron fans. So far, it had three stories. Three. Including mine. That's sad. I know this movie only came out last friday, but give the guy some love!
A bit of background, the mutant rights movement has been going on for a while now. Xavier's school is in full operation, but in this the X-Men are only a distant thought. The Brotherhood is an extremist group, but they have yet to get really violent. The mutant issue has sort of been pushed to the side after the events of New York, and now Ultron. The world doesn't see them as a huge issue, though they will be later on.
For the dancing scene, the music is this: watch?v=7TD9o1s8_aA
Ben sat cross-legged on the hood of a car, a bowl of stew on his lap. The boy was staring at Ultron, who stared right back. His mother had shifted the metal man into a sitting position on the cot.
He was now leaning against the wall, legless, as Anya worked to reconstruct the limbs. She had already returned his arms to a decent condition.
His gaze continued to shift between the boy staring at him and the woman working to rebuild him. Anya was fascinating to watch. While her two hands were deep in the robotic leg, tools and wires swirled around her, responding to her mind and slight gestures.
A technopath. That's what she had called herself. A mutant who could control technology with her mind. Anya had assured him she could only control part of his body, that his mind was too strong for her to take hold of. It was a small comfort.
Ben was a mutant as well. His muscles and bone structure were stronger than that of a normal human, though not as impressive as some mutants who could lift trucks. Still, the boy was abnormally strong. That was the reason he was even able to cary Ultron's two hundred plus pounds five miles through the snow.
His main mutation (as well as his most interesting) was what he called 'cuttlefish skin'. Ben could change his skin's pigment and texture to blend in with anything he wanted. He even had 'finger' cells as the boy called them, that could stretch from his own body to cover other objects, such as clothing. The child could turn completely invisible with just a thought, cloths and all.
Ultron had read about mutants during his time journeying the internet. They were the 'new race', as many called themselves. It was a growing movement, mutant rights. Humans born with an extra gene, one that made them something more. Perhaps this was the improvement Ultron had been seeking.
But mutants were just as petty and selfish as normal humans, so perhaps not. There were two leading voices to the mutant cause. Charles Xavier, the pacifist, and Erik Lehnsherr, the warmonger.
Xavier had built a school for mutants, a place they could feel 'safe', if there was such a thing. Lehnsherr had a mass of followers who were becoming more and more violent as time went on.
But with all he knew about mutants, these two still confused Ultron. Everything they did seemed abnormal.
"What does your name mean?" Ultron asked suddenly, needing to break the silence.
Anya glanced up from the leg she was working on. "It means graceful." She tightened a bolt on the ankle. "Benedict means blessing." She added as an afterthought. "Why do you ask?"
Ultron shrugged. "It's fascinating. How each human name had a different meaning and history."
"Wha bou ooh?" Ben asked with a mouth full of strew. He swallowed before repeating. "What about you? What does your name mean?"
The android grimaced. "It has no meaning."
Both mutants stilled in what they were doing. Anya gave Ultron a sad glance while Ben looked at him with shock.
"My name was created, just like me. I had no personality, only purpose. Ultron was just a madman's dream."
Anya gently set down the arm. "You mean Stark?"
He didn't bother to answer. He didn't need to.
Anya chewed on her lip before speaking. "I don't know much about Tony Stark and his 'Avengers', but I do know they are doing what they believe to be right. In my life, I've learned that you can't judge a person by who they were or who they can become. Instead, you judge character by what the person does and what they stand for."
Ultron's fists clenched and unclenched.
"You hate them, I understand that. I don't know why, but I can guess. You don't have to tell me. Just, don't loose the forest for the trees." She reached out and took hold of one of Ultron's clenched hands. "Don't overlook the good in humanity for the bad."
Slowly the metal man nodded. Anya smiled and returned to her work. An hour passed like that, with Anya working, Ben doing homeschool, and Ultron just sitting and thinking.
Finally the quite was broken. "You got some ballerina heels on you." Anya joked as she reattached a foot to the ankle she'd just fixed.
Ultron chuckled. "No, I prefer ballroom dancing. More symmetry."
Anya cocked a brow at him. "Is that so?" She set down the leg and stood from her seat, then made her way toward a worn and dust covered radio in the corner. As she fiddled with the device, tools continued to float around and reconstruct Ultron's legs.
"Ah-ha!" Anya cheered as she finally got the radio to switch on. From it came a stream of music. It was soft with with piano and a deep voice.
"You can feel the world around us fading fast. The future's just a relic of the past. And the mystery of it all is dark and vast but baby we hold on."
She turned back toward Ultron, a wide smile on her face. "It's not exactly ballroom, but it's nice." With a flick of her wrist, his now complete legs were reattached to his body.
He was nearly fully repaired. Just a few panels to cover exposed wires, and he would look just like the original body, if a bit more dinged up and miss-matched.
"And even when the ground beneath us starts to shake, the oceans rise and there's nowhere to escape, in the final moments of that last daybreak, baby we hold on."
Ultron pushed himself off the cot and onto unstable legs. They wobbled beneath him before becoming still and strong. He took a step, and was pleased to see his limbs held. The joins were clean and easy to move, and they no longer made that horrible grinding noise.
"Much better." Ultron caught Anya gaze. "...Thank you." It felt odd, thanking a human, but he was in debt to her. He disliked that debt, but at the same time, the fact she and her son seemed to care for him made him feel... alive. Was this what humans call affection? Or, dare he say it... something stronger? Something like...love?
"And as we wander through what's left of what remains, With our last steps we'll feel life surging through our veins. There'll be nobody else left in this whole wide world except of course me and you."
Anya drew him from his thoughts with her gentle touch on his shoulder and arm. "Would you care for a dance?" She asked, a wide smirk on her face.
"I can feel your heart each time it skips a beat. As the sunlight fades beneath the winter heat. And the mystery of it all is strange and sweet. But baby we'll hold on."
Had he still been in his old body, Ultron knew his expression would have been one of shock. Thankfully, this body was devoid of emotion, the only indicator to his mood being his voice.
The music was picking up, becoming louder, good enough for a slow waltz. Ultron shifted, the metal beneath Anya's hands feeling so abnormally warm. Her touch couldn't be that hot, could it?
The woman smiled and took his arm, dragging him to the middle of the garage. "You said you preferred ballroom." She taunted.
"And even when the sky starts falling everywhere. Facing the end of time each time the sirens blare; Safe in each others arms we'll find somewhere, baby we'll hold on."
Ultron cocked his head. "I said I liked it better than ballet, not that I could dance."
Anya laughed. She sashayed up to him, swinging her hips and brushing her arms over her head. A sensual smile lit up her face. She moved around him, brushing against his shoulders and back.
Throwing caution to the wind, Ultron grabbed hold of her hand and pulled her against him. Anya gasped in surprise, before smirking even wider. She placed her left hand on his shoulder while he moved to hold her hip.
Smirking, Anya began to dance and he had no choice but to follow her movements. Anya moved seamlessly with the music, and Ultron found he wasn't so bad at it either.
"And even when the sorry world goes down in flames, no future left to ever recall our names, There'll be nobody else left in this whole wide world except of course for me and you."
Letting the music wash over him, Ultron took the lead. Anya laughed as the two waltzed around the garage. Ultron released her hip and spun her around before taking her back in his arms and continuing the dance.
He found he... enjoyed dancing.
There'll be nobody else left in this whole wide world except of course for me and you."
They danced until the end of the song. By the time the music came to a close, Anya was panting heavily and Ultron's joints once more began to ache.
The shock of what he'd just done registered in Ultron's mind and he pulled away from Anya in embarrassment. That had been... inappropriate ...uncalled for ...sort of... fun?
Ultron shook his head. Things just continued to get more and more complicated. He glanced to see Anya's hurt expression, but it vanished a moment later.
They continued to stare at each other in silence until it was interrupted with loud applause.
"Bravo!" Cheered Ben from where he sat on the car. "That was awesome!" The boy grinned.
Ultron shifted awkwardly while Anya turned the radio off once more. A slight blush had risen in her cheeks, though her embarrassment was almost as well hidden as Ultron's own.
"You need a new body." Anya said, breaking the silence. She glanced at him. "This one just seems... wrong."
Ultron tilted his head, glad for the distraction. "How so?"
Anya shrugged. "You need eyes. Real eyes. And a mouth...with...lips..." Her blush darkened slightly. For what reason, he didn't know.
"I had those once, but that body was destroyed." He paused. "I still have the designs..."
Something rectangular and white almost hit Ultron in the face had he not caught it in time. It was a pad of engineer paper, the kind used in designing cars or buildings. He looked at it curiously.
Ultron glanced up only to be smacked in the face with a pen. He snatched it up before it could fall on the ground. He tried his best to glare at the giggling Anya, but with a single form face it was hard to do.
"Well, if you have the design, draw it out. I'll help you build it."
Ultron snorted but did as she asked. It took him only a few minutes to complete the designs which he tossed back at Anya. She caught them with ease and looked them over.
"Impressive. I like this you much better."
With an internal smirk, Ultron flicked the pen at her, which collided with her forehead. Anya let out a yelp of surprise. The pen tumbled to the floor where Anya kicked it back at the android. She had surprisingly good aim, as the little projectile managed to whack in in the chest. Ultron smirked in responce to the petit woman's death glare.
She huffed and went back to going over the designs. Flicking a wrist, the materials needed to complete the body floated from their scattered places and into the center of the garage.
"Let's get to work."
