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Three days.

It had been three days since he'd had his talk with Jayden, and Ultron was still waiting to see whether she'd take him up on his offer. He hadn't thought it would take her that long to make up her mind. A life on the run, always in danger, always scavenging, or a life at the Tower, safe, protected. What was there to think about?

Though, he supposed he understood her reluctance. His past wasn't all flowers and joy. All of Sokovia was a testament to that. And she didn't seem like someone to trust blindly. In truth, he did have a bit of an ulterior motive. After all his failures in finding a cure, her survival spoke of a potential immunity to the virus. There was a chance that he could find something in her blood, or in her very DNA, that could help him create the antivirus he'd been struggling with for so long.

He doubted he could bring the 'biters', as Jayden called them, back to normality, but if he could inoculate the still surviving tribes across the planet, humanity would have a chance to recover. And with his guiding hand, no less.

A second chance, both for humanity and for him.

It wasn't until the morning of day four, when he was in the middle of a defrag of all things, that the computer system in the Tower started blaring an alarm. The noise jolted him back into operation, a muttered curse leaving him as he shoved himself up out of his chair and fumbled for the hardline, plugging himself into the systems. It took him a moment to shift through the incoming information, optics narrowing when he brought up the current satellite feed, the image filling the screens in front of him.

The program he'd written was only supposed to alert him if Jayden had stayed in one place for more than forty eight hours. He half expected to see that she'd ditched her truck in an attempt to elude him. But what he got instead was a view of a run down farmhouse surrounded by biters. And there, sloppily painted on the roof, were six words: Truck died. Biters everywhere. Offer accepted.

"Shit."


Jayden's growling stomach jerked her out of a fitful sleep, Cami loosing a whine from where the Labrador was curled up beside her on the floor. It had been well over a day since she'd risked her life to paint a message on the roof, and still, no Ultron.

She'd ransacked the kitchen the night before in the hopes of finding something to eat, only finding a few tiny tins of cat food, which she fed to Cami. The water, when she'd turned on the taps, was brown, and the fear that it was full of bacteria made her shy away from it. The danger of contracting E. Coli was too high for her to risk it, and catching such a thing would dehydrate her so fast it would kill her.

It was the sound of the breaking front bay window that had sent her and Cami upstairs, and Jade had quickly barricaded them in the front bedroom, wedging the two dressers and bed against the door in an attempt to keep the biters out.

While Cami had gotten a small meal, all Jade had was a trio of cigarettes in her back pocket. The nicotine, at least, helped calm her nerves, turning the sounds of the biters shuffling through the house and outside into something that she could at least tolerate. She spent the time sprawled across the floor, staring out of the open window and watching as the clouds floated by.

Sleep had come in fits and spurts, every noise making her eyes snap open and pulling more whines from Cami. The fear Jade was struggling to control made her think that every sound was a biter coming for her throat, the lack of sleep and food making her both twitchy and exhausted. It wasn't a good combo.

Bored, and wishing that she'd picked a more reliable truck, Jade thunked her head against the floor, sighing when Cami nudged at her with her nose. She flopped a hand sideways, lightly scratching at the Labrador's side, eyes half lidded as she stared out the window, half wishing that it would rain again so she could get a drink of water.

Deciding that there was no point in saving it, she reached up and plucked the last cigarette out from behind her right ear, patting her pockets before tugging the lighter free of her jeans. Sighing, Jade lit her final smoke and inhaled, relaxing as nicotine flooded her system. She exhaled, blowing smoke circles, something she'd learned from a buddy while working as a bartender. The circles floated upwards, the breeze from the window pushing them sideways until they broke apart against the ugly wallpaper covered wall.

Where the everloving hell is, Ultron? After all the times he'd popped up when she didn't want to see him, it figured that the one time she did want him to barge in was the time where he was nowhere to be found.

"Well, fuck," she muttered with a frown. How long could someone go without water? Three days? She only had two left, if that. And that was if the biters didn't root her out and force her to clamor out onto the roof again, where the sun would bake her and overheat Cami within hours. It didn't leave her with many options.

She transferred her cigarette to her left hand, and rose her right, staring at it as she pulled on a bit of energy and watched as the air around her fingers shimmered. Power made her skin tingle, her eyes narrowing as she considered. There were a handful of spells she could use to carve a path through the biters, but what then? Take off, on foot, with biters at her heels, heading into goddess only knew what, with no food, no water, and no plan? Suicide. And a stupid way to go at that.

Groaning, Jade let her hand drop to her side, her mind struggling to figure out a plan that wouldn't end up with her and Cami being killed. It rankled her that she was basically a damsel in distress, waiting for someone to rescue her. She'd never really been 'damsel-y'. Her mother had raised her to be strong, intelligent and self-sufficient. Her grandmother, meanwhile, had always told her that in the end of things, Jade would only have herself to rely on, and so she'd better make certain that she wasn't like one of those 'ditsy moronic twinks' that her brother kept dating.

She sighed at the thought of her family, taking a final drag from her cig before flicking the butt out of the open window. Exhaustion made her eyelids heavy, the nicotine in her system relaxing her as she let her eyes slip closed, the sound of Cami's steady breathing and the slight breeze coming through the window, helping to lull her.

Sleep might have claimed her, she didn't quite know. Things faded in and out for a while, and it was comforting, for a little bit. At least until Cami started growling.

The warning rumbles instantly jerked her back into full wakefulness, her hand dropping to the butt of her gun as she sat up, eyes darting across the bedroom in search of whatever had the Labrador's hackles up.

It took Jade only a second to realize that the bedroom door was moving, the dressers and furniture that she'd braced up against it shaking as something bashed itself against the other side of the door. Panic had her scrambling to her feet and launching herself forward, slamming her shoulder up against the pile of stuff in an attempt to better brace everything, suddenly all too aware of the mindless growls on the other side. Shit, they must have swarmed inside the house!

Cami's growling grew into angry barks, the fur along her back standing on end, and Jade couldn't stop her own whimper when she couldn't keep the door from inching inwards, clawed looking hands curling through the open crack. Gritting her teeth, she put all her weight behind shoving the door closed again, trying, desperately, to fight against the mindless surge of strength from the other side. Furniture scraped against the floorboards as the biters shoved at the door again, and her boots slid backwards, a small, high pitched, noise of panic escaping her. "No, no, no, please, fuck, no."

Snarling, the biters pushed again, spittle flying from rotten teeth, crazed, discolored eyes fixated on her as Jade struggled against the mindless shove, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. Fear had her heartbeat pounding in her ears, sweat dripping down her back as she braced herself against the furniture, feet slipping and sliding as she tried to push back.

She was so focused on trying to keep that door closed that she didn't hear the odd whoosh of wind, didn't hear the thrusters or repulsor blasts. Didn't hear someone shout her name. It wasn't until Cami's barks changed pitch, from warning to welcoming that she blinked, frowning at the dog in confusion.

"Jayden!"

The familiar electronic-tinged voice sent an unexpected wave of relief through her. Oh, thank fuck. "ULTRON! HELP!"

She'd barely finished hollering when the wall to the left of her exploded, Ultron not even bothering with subtlety as he shouldered his way through the carnage, crimson eyes darting from a still barking Cami, to her and the biters she was struggling to keep out.

Two huge steps and he was by her side, one hand closing on her right shoulder to push her behind him as he rose his left arm, energy making his fingertips glow before he fired a series of concussion blasts through the door. "So, how've you been?" he drawled conversationally, smirking when she let out a tired laugh.

"Oh, you know. Same old, same old," she retorted. "A little scenic drive followed by some running for my life. The usual."

"Cute. Ready to go?"

"I have to get something out of my truck. And I hope you realise that I'm not leaving Cami behind."

"The dog?"

"Yes, the dog."

A sigh left him. "Fine."

"Damn straight 'fine'," she grumbled, ignoring his exaggerated eye roll as she went to the Labrador, glancing back when Ultron sent another series of shots through the dilapidated door, a few dull 'thuds' announcing that he'd hit his marks. She was fully intending on picking Cami up herself, except Ultron stopped her, the android bending to loop his left arm around the dog and effortlessly plucking her up off her paws.

A final concussive blast felled the last of the biters in the hallway, and Ultron turned away, ignoring Jayden's yelp as he wrapped his right arm around her waist and lifted her off her feet. "What do you need from the truck?"

She automatically curled her arms around his neck as he stepped up to the hole in the wall his entrance had created, her eyes glued on the three drones that were systematically blasting away at the horde of biters. She must have stared for too long, because Ultron gave her a little shake, jerking her back to the present. "Um... My backpack, on the front seat, and I have a small suitcase in the flatbed. What the hell is that?"

"That is a quinjet. It's a perk I inherited when I took over the tower."

"The tower? You mean the Avengers tower?"

He frowned and eyed her. "Yes. What of it?"

She blinked at the flat stare he was giving her, feeling how tight his grip on her waist her gotten, suddenly realising that she'd hit upon a very tender topic. "Nothing. Sorry."

A grumble left him as he stepped though the hole, repulsors on his back and legs flaring on as he casually walked off the roof. Jayden's arms tightened around his neck, and he spared her a quick glance, frowning when he saw the trepidation in her eyes as she stared down at the biters that were mindlessly throwing themselves into the drones line of fire.

He had to admit, the sight bothered him as well. The mindless, meaninglessness, of the creature's reactions, the complete lack of the humanity that they used to have, was striking. They were like rabid animals now, not even instinct driving them anymore. Just a mindless drive to kill.

Scowling, Ultron tore his gaze away and turned his attention to the jet as he flew past the lowered ramp and landed behind the pilot's chair, where one of his sentries was seated, keeping the quinjet steady in the air. He'd already tasked one of the drones on the ground to fetch Jayden's things from the truck, the other two doing a perfect job in keeping the rabid from attacking it.

Satisfied that everything was going as well as it could, he set carefully Jayden on her feet. The dog, well, he didn't trust it not to fall out of the quinjet, and he frowned as he glanced around the jet's interior for a solution, trying his best not to shudder when it licked his chest.

"I'll take her," Jade offered, blinking when she suddenly found herself with an armful of wriggling Labrador. Sighing, she carefully set Cami on her paws, then took hold of her collar to keep her still. "Not a dog person, hm?"

"Not especially," he shrugged, flicking fur off of his fingers as he went to stand at the lowered ramp, watching his sentries' progress. "Take any seat you want, we should be ready to leave in two minutes."

She glanced around, then gently guided Cami over to an empty chair, ignoring the computer panel in front of it as she spun the chair around, keeping one hand on Cami's collar and belting herself in with the other. "Thanks, by the way. We'd be dead if you hadn't shown up."

Ultron turned to look at her, softening his gaze at the grateful smile she gave him. "You're welcome," he told her. Then added with a smirk, "Could have avoided all this if you'd just taken my invitation in the first place."

The glare she shot him could have frozen over hell. "You just had to say it, didn't you? Smartass."

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tbc