Chapter 9

She chewed her cheek, strumming her fingers on the side of the computer's keyboard. A heavy sigh breezed past her lips as she rubbed her hands over her face. Her mind raced with the thoughts of everything that was going on over in Seoul. Her heart was hammering. She wanted to know what was going on! It was her brother damn it! What was Ultron doing to him? How was he and Natasha?

"Anything on Nat?" Bruce asked as Tony walked into the room.

Tracey's head snapped up from where she had been staring off into space. Immediately she was on her feet moving around the table she was working at and heading for Tony. "What about Barry?"

"I haven't heard," Tony answered, heading towards the Cradle.

The blonde Madison twin's heart sank and her eyes widened. She took a deep breath to calm herself. However, her hopes were quickly brought back up when she heard Tony say they were alive. That was a good sign at least.

"It's sealed tight," Clint commented as he jumped down from atop the Cradle.

"We're gonna need to access the program, break it down from within," Bruce stated.

"Can't be too hard," Tracey mumbled, folding her arms as she walked over to the two men.

Tony sniffed, stuffing his hands in his pockets before turning to Clint. "Any chance Natasha might leave you a message outside the internet? Old-school spy stuff?"

The archer placed his hands on his hips, nodding slightly. "There are some nets I can cast," he answered, turning towards the stairs. "Yeah, I'll find her."

"What about you?" the billionaire asked, turning to Tracey. "You and Fireman have any sort of twin telepathy? Like read each other's thoughts? Or know when the other is in pain? That sort of stuff?"

The female hacker snorted, rolling her eyes. "Yeah, if that was the case I'd probably be in pain every time he's out on a mission." She shook her head. "Yeah, no."

"I can work on the tissue degeneration," Bruce spoke up from where he was working, "if you can fry whatever operational system Cho implanted."

"No problem," Tracey replied, walking over to Bruce and looking at the Cradle. "I can probably get it done in five minutes. Ten at most. Depending on what system she used."

"Yeah about that," Tony said, causing the other two to look at him.

It was silent for a minute as the three stared at each other. Tracey and Bruce stared at the bearded scientist, waiting for him to continue only to have Tony continue to stare back at them.

"No," Bruce quickly said.

"You have to trust me," Tony said, stepping closer to him.

"Kind of don't," was the response he received from the other scientist.

"What are you guys going on about?" Tracey said, her brow scrunching up as she looked from one scientist to the other.

"Our ally," Tony continued, "the guy protecting the military's nuclear codes, I found him." He lifted his hand and tapped a small tablet device in the air and immediately an orange sphere of lines and light appeared behind him.

"Hello, Dr. Banner. Miss Madison."

"JARVIS?" Tracey whispered, her mouth falling open. "But how?"

"Ultron didn't go after JARVIS because he was angry. He attacked him because he was scared of what he can do," Tony explained. "So JARVIS went underground," he continued on. "Scattered, dumped his memory. But not his protocols. He didn't even know he was in there until I pieced him together."

Bruce scoffed, rubbing his forehead before looking back up at Tony. "So you want me to help you put JARVIS into this thing?"

"Wait what?" Tracey exclaimed, her face scrunching up and mouth falling open as she stared at Tony in disbelief.

"No! Of course not," Tony said. "I want to help you put JARVIS in this thing."

"You can't be serious?" Tracey spoke up once more. "Ultron was about to use this thing to make a better body for himself. To make himself stronger! What makes you think putting JARVIS in this thing is a good idea? We don't even know what this thing is or what it could do!"

"We're out of my field, here," the bearded man stated, looking from the other scientist to the hacker. "That's why I think we should put him in this thing." He turned to Bruce. "You know bio-organics better than I do."

"And you just assume that JARVIS's operational matrix can beat Ultron's?" Bruce questioned.

"Which is why we shouldn't," Tracey chimed in. "We don't know if it will."

"JARVIS has been beating him from inside without knowing it," Tony defended. "This is the opportunity. We can create Ultron's perfect self without the homicidal glitches that he thinks are his winning personality. We have to."

"Oh my god…" the blonde woman said, holding her head in her hand.

"I believe it's worth a go," JARVIS spoke up.

Tracey looked up at the ceiling, throwing her hands in the air as she walked away. "Oh my god!"

Bruce shook his head, finally looking back up at Tony. "I'm in a loop!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands up. "I'm caught in a time loop. This is exactly where it all went wrong."

"Exactly!" the blonde hacker shouted, turning on her heel to face the two men – and AI. "The first time you two tried to make something of a peace keeper it tried to kill us. It's still trying to kill us!"

"I know. I know. I know what everyone's gonna say," Tony said, walking up to Bruce, trying to calm him down.

"They're going to say you're an idiot," Tracey retorted.

"But they're already saying it," the billionaire scientist pointed out. "We're mad scientists," he continued, placing a hand on the other scientist's shoulder. "We're monsters, buddy. We've gotta own it. Make a stand." He stared at Bruce as the man with glasses shook his head. "It's not a loop. It's the end of the line."

Tracey couldn't say anything. She didn't even know what to say. She was in disbelief as she saw Bruce slowly give in as he stared at the Cradle. "Oh my god…" she breathed as she placed her hands over her face.

ooOOoo

Throbbing. That's all he felt as he slowly gained consciousness. He groaned softly as he tried to move his limbs. They were sore, that much he could tell. As his eyes slowly opened he found himself in a dimly lit room. More like an open area that was supposed to look like a cell he corrected as he looked around. To his left was Natasha, who was slowly waking up herself.

Straining his ears, he listened for anything familiar. Maybe voices of the team. But he was only making up false hope. He knew he was nowhere near the team. He was dragged through the air when he tried to save Natasha from Ultron. But the question was: where did Ultron take them?

"I wasn't sure you would wake up," came the voice of someone neither him nor Nat wanted to be near.

Outside the room he spotted the being he was thinking of. Ultron stood outside the cell, standing over a table that held the body of an unmoving robot. Behind him were more robots moving around a vast, open area full of machinery.

"I hoped you would. I wanted to show you," Ultron continued, looking over at them. "I don't have anyone else."

Barry looked over at his teammate when he heard her groaning as she tried to sit up. He reached over and grabbed her arms, slowly helping to a sitting position. He wasn't sure what sort of condition the red haired woman was in, but he didn't think it was too severe. The two stared at Ultron as he continued to prattle on about whatever he was rambling about.

"I think a lot about meteors. The purity of them," the insane robot spoke. "Boom! The end. Start again. The world made clean for the new man to rebuild. I was meant to be new. I was meant to be beautiful."

The male twin could only scoff lightly. Beautiful wasn't exactly the word he would describe the robot in front of him.

"The world would have looked to the sky and seen hope, seen mercy. Instead, they'll look up in horror because of you," he said darkly before stomping over to them. "You've wounded me. I give you full marks for that. But, like the man said, what doesn't kill me…" he started only to be interrupted by a hand bursting through his face.

Barry's eyes widened as he watched Ultron die. He was torn in half, his body parts scattering everywhere around him and Natasha. The old Ultron was soon replaced with a bigger Ultron. An Ultron that was taller and built with more armor.

"Just makes me stronger," he finished as he stepped closer to them. The robot grabbed the cell door, slowly closing it on them as the two Avengers only stared up at him.

The male Avenger cursed himself. As much as he knew they could escape, it would have been easier had it not been a giant robot that probably wouldn't be taken down with just two of them – unfortunately. They couldn't take him. But that didn't mean they couldn't find a way out of here.

ooOOoo

Tracey's mouth was set in a firm line as she shook her head, watching the two scientists work on the Cradle. She couldn't believe Tony was able to convince Bruce to go along with it. She was more amazed that Bruce actually caved. He saw what happened with Ultron, what made this any different? How did they not know that it wouldn't work? That it would turn out with the same result: a crazed robot ready to destroy them and the world.

"This framework is not compatible," Tony spoke up after at least ten minutes of silence.

"The gentic coding tower is at ninety seven percent," Bruce spoke out. "You have got to upload that schematic in the next three minutes."

Taking a deep breath, the blonde woman slowly let it out. She seriously couldn't believe this was happening. She shook her head as she ran a hand over her face. This was idiotic!

"I'm gonna say this once," Steve's voice broke out.

"How about none-ce?" Tony replied.

Tracey's head snapped up to see Steve and Bucky. Not only them, but the Maximoff twins were there as well. The blonde's face scrunched up in confusion as she looked from them to Bucky, hoping to get an explanation. He only shook his head, meaning he would explain later.

"Shut it down!" Steve ordered.

"Nope, not gonna happen," Tony stated.

"You don't know what you're doing," the soldier said, trying to persuade the two scientists to end their plans.

"And you do?" Bruce asked, raising his brows in question towards the soldier. "She's not in your head?" he asked, gesturing towards Wanda.

"I know you're angry," Wanda said slowly, stepping out from behind the two soldiers.

"Oh, we're way past that," Bruce said calmly. A little too calmly. "I could choke the life out of you and never change a shade."

"Bruce!" Tracey exclaimed, glaring over at the scientist. She had never seen this side of her teammate. Bruce was the calmest, the gentlest out of everyone and yet here he was threatening a young girl's life! Yes she had caused the team harm, but hearing that come out of the scientist's mouth was something the hacker never thought she'd hear.

"Banner," Steve stepped up, "after everything that's happened-"

"It's nothing compared to what's coming!" Tony interjected.

"You couldn't have stopped them, Tracey?" Bucky questioned, looking over to his fiancé.

"You think I could have stopped them?" Tracey shouted. "We all know that once they have their mind set on something it will take more than one person to get them to stop. Especially Tony! The only single person who could stop him is Pepper."

"But you didn't try?"

"Oh I tried! But they won't listen!"

"You don't know what's in there," Wanda spoke up.

"This isn't a game!" Steve shouted.

As everyone in the room began shouting and arguing, Pietro interrupted by running around the room. Everyone watched as the silver haired man ran around the Cradle, pulling the plugs out of it.

"No, no. Go on," he said casually as he dropped the last plug. "You were saying?" But before anyone could say anything a gunshot sounded throughout the room and the glass floor underneath his feet shattered, sending the speedster to the level below.

"Pietro!" Wanda exclaimed, running towards where he stood.

Tracey quickly rushed over to the girl, pulling her aside in case Clint decided to shoot another one. "He's okay. He's okay," she spoke, trying to calm the dark haired woman.

"I'm rerouting the upload," Tony announced as beeping from the computers sounded.

Everyone ducked as Steve's shield went flying around the room, smashing into every machine it could hit. In the seconds before the shield returned to the soldier, one of Tony's gauntlets flew through the room and attached to his hand. Immediately after it reaching the scientist, Tony shot a blast towards Steve sending him flying backwards. The rest of the billionaire's armor was coming into the room one by one. Wanda was the next to act, her powers illuminating in her hands as she was getting ready to attack the scientist. However, before she could do anything she was stopped by Bruce grabbing her and wrapping an arm around her neck.

"Go ahead, piss me off," he threatened.

"Bruce, stop!" Tracey shouted, trying to reach the female Maximoff.

"Don't do anything you'll regret, Bruce," Bucky spoke up, pointing a gun at the scientist.

The group – and Clint who had finally come up from downstairs – turned to Tony and Steve who were once again going at each other only to have themselves be knocked to the ground. In that distraction Wanda took the opportunity to get Bruce to release her by sending a wave of her energy through her and into him, sending him backwards. She quickly took a stance, ready to fight him if it came down to it.

However, the entire room looked to the entrance when a crash was heard. There was Thor, jumping onto the Cradle. Immediately, he raised his hammer, summoning lightning that illuminated the dark room.

"Wait!" Bruce shouted, running up to the god.

Everyone shielded their eyes as more and more lightning filled the air above the god. Thor quickly redirected it at the Cradle, sending the volts into the machine. All eyes were on him as pulled the hammer away, the room once again going dim. It was silent, but only for a second before the Cradle burst open, sending Thor and pieces of the machine scattering.

Recovering from the explosion, everyone turned to look at whatever it was that exited the Cradle. Standing on top was a man, a red and green man. All were stiff, unsure of what to expect from whatever this man – being – was. They were ready to attack if they needed to. They watched as the being looked from one person to the next before his eyes landed on Thor and in one swift motion he flew at the god, only to be deflected and sent through a glass wall. The red and green creature flew across the floor, but somehow stopped himself before he could crash through the window.

Steve made a move to attack, but was quickly stopped by Thor holding a hand up to him. They stared at the being as he floated, staring at out the window.

Cautiously, everyone made their way to the level of the floor Thor, Steve, and the creature were on. It was silent as they all waited for something to happen. They stood there, watching as the man floated down to them and still he did not attack.

"I am sorry. That was…odd," he spoke, turning to look at Thor. "Thank you." He went silent again and out of nowhere a cape materialized on him.

"Thor," Steve spoke up, breaking the silence amongst the team. "You helped create this?"

"I've had a vision," Thor answered. "A whirlpool that sucks in all hope of life, and at its center is that," he said, pointing to the glowing gem at the man's forehead.

"What? The gem?" Bruce inquired.

"What is it?" Bucky asked.

"It's the Mind Stone. It's one of the six Infinity Stones," Thor explained. "The greatest power in the universe, unparalleled in its destructive capabilities.

"Then why would you bring-" Steve began only to be interrupted by Thor.

"Because Stark is right."

"You can't be serious," Bucky said, folding his arms across his chest.

"Oh, it's definitely the end of times," Bruce sighed.

"Oh dear God," Tracey breathed.

"The Avengers cannot defeat Ultron. Not alone," Thor continued.

"Why does your Vision sound like JARVIS?" Steve questioned as the half robot half man walked over to the rest of the team.

"Is that what we're calling him?" Tracey asked, looking up at Bucky, who only shrugged in response.

"We configured JARVIS's matrix to create something new," Tony explained, taking a step closer to Vision.

"I think I've had my fill of new," Steve replied.

"You think I'm a child of Ultron," Vision spoke.

"You're not?" Bucky asked.

"I'm not Ultron," Vision said slowly. "I am not JARVIS. I am… I am," he said, looking up and over to Tony and Bruce.

"I looked in your head," Wanda spoke up, walking up to the android, "and saw annihilation."

"Look again," Vision said in response.

Clint scoffed as he walked up to everyone. "Her seal of approval means jack to me."

"Clint," Tracey said, taking a step towards the archer. "Back down. Leave her alone."

"You going to defend them?" the archer asked, looking towards the blonde.

"Their powers, the horrors in our heads, Ultron himself, they all came from the Mind Stone," Thor stated. "And they're nothing compared to what it can unleash. But with it on our side-"

"Is it?" Steve questioned. He looked over to the red and green man. "Are you? On our side?"

"I don't think it's that simple," Vision replied, his brow scrunching up slightly.

"Well, it better get real simple real soon," Clint said.

"I am on the side of life," the robot continued, his eyes scanning everyone in the room. "Ultron isn't. He will end it all."

"What's he waiting for?" Tony asked.

"You."

"Where?" Bruce was the next to ask a question.

"Sokovia," Clint spoke up. "He's got Nat there, too."

Tracey's head snapped over to the archer. "And Barry? What about him?" she asked in a rush. She let out a breath when the archer nodded his head at her and ran a hand through her hair. Feeling a hand on her shoulder she looked up to see Bucky giving her a reassuring smile. She smiled back before both turned their attention to the conversation at hand.

"If we're wrong about you," Bruce slowly said as he took a few steps closer to Vision. "If you're the monster that Ultron made you to be-"

"What will you do?" Vision asked, staring the scientist in the eye. The room went silent as all eyes were on him, giving him a silent answer. "I don't want to kill Ultron. He's unique and he's in pain."

"Yeah, well," Bucky said, glaring at the android, "he's caused a lot of pain in the past few days."

"But that pain will roll over the Earth. So he must be destroyed," Vision continued. "Every form he's built, every trace of his presence on the net. We have to act now. And not one of us can do it without the others. Maybe I am a monster. I don't think I'd know if I were one. I'm not what you are and not what you intended. So, there may be no reason to make you trust me. But we need to go," he said, holding out Mjolnir to Thor.

Silence struck the room as all eyes fell on the being holding the hammer and mouths fell open. Everyone was frozen as they stared at him. Clint's mouth was opening and closing as he tried to register what happened. Tracey's head tilted to the side as her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. Tony's and Bruce's faces scrunched up as they stared at Vision and Steve and Bucky's brows furrowed as they tried to register what they were seeing.

Thor on the other hand took the hammer he was handed, silent and brow furrowed. He looked from one Avenger to the other as he too tried to comprehend what had just happened. Slowly he moved, tapping the hammer in his hand. "Right. Well done," he said, patting Tony on the shoulder as he passed the billionaire.

"Three minutes," Steve said, turning to everyone else. "Get what you need."

Bucky nodded at his friend before turning to Tracey. "Let's get going," he said, placing a light hand on her back.

"Actually, go on without me," the blonde woman replied, shaking her head.

The metal armed man's face scrunched up in confusion. "What do you mean? I thought you'd want to go with us on this mission. You've been staying behind on everything else. You'd be complaining by now if I told you to stay behind."

"I know," Tracey replied, giving a sheepish smile. "But I have something I need to take care of. I'll be with you on comms. I promise."

"What are you doing exactly?" he asked.

"Something," was the hacker's answer. "I promise everything's fine. I just need to take care of something."

Bucky stayed silent, staring down at her. "Alright," he said. "Just stay safe with whatever it is you're doing. Okay, Trace?"

"I'll be safe. Don't worry, Sergeant," she said, smiling up at him before reaching up to place a quick kiss on his lips.

"I love you, doll. I'll see you after this is all done and over with," he responded, smiling at her before he rushed off to gather his equipment.

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. School and life have gotten in the way and I just got back to school Tuesday after my grandma's funeral. I've been a bit of a mess since that happened and I honestly didn't think I'd be updating any of my stories after that. Not so soon at least. I thought I'd be taking a break from my stories, but here we are.

I'm kind of glad with how this turned out. I have a lot of plans for this movie. Some you guys might not expect for the upcoming chapter, but we shall see how everyone will react to it.

I'm also plotting the next story after this which will lead into Civil War. Unless having another story is too much, I'm not sure.

Anyways I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I'd love to hear your thoughts so leave a review please!

Feel free to follow my tumblr, winter-is-ending, where you can get updates on what is going on why stories are taking a while to update or ask the Madison twins and Avengers any questions you'd like.

Hope you all have a wonderful day/night wherever you are. And to any of my followers in Paris, Japan, Mexico, Baghdad, and Beirut, I am so sorry for all that has happened. You are all in my prayers.