As soon as they got back to Stark Tower, the Avengers went off to clean up, or in Clint's case, went to Dr. Foster to get treated. The hole in Clint's side was being repaired with some synthetic tissue machine that normally Tony would think was awesome, but he didn't give a shit about it right now.
Still in his armor, which was now scratched, scuffed, and dented, Tony confronted Fury, who had nothing for him.
"What do you mean, you don't know where she is?" Tony yelled.
"What it sounds like, Stark," Fury retorted. "We're doing everything in our power to find clues. She could be anywhere in the world. It's not the Avengers- or you in particular- don't have enemies."
"You think they took her for ransom? Because they can have everything. Really, I don't care, they can have the company, the suits, I'll make weapons for them_"
"Stark, calm down. It's not likely that they took her for ransom."
"I don't even know how they knew I had a daughter. I was never out in public with her, she stayed in the mansion or in the Tower_"
"Which makes me think that this is something entirely new, and they knew about her before you even did."
Fury left and Tony sank into a chair in the living room, burying his face in his hands. He screwed up. He made the wrong call. His daughter could be dead, for all he knew, and he wasn't able to do anything about it.
He looked up as someone came out of the elevator. Pepper. She looked horrible. Probably, he realized, the same way he felt.
"You're going to find her, Tony," Pepper whispered to him as he held her. "And you're going to bring her home."
"SHIELD has no idea where she is," Tony said back tonelessly. "And we can't act until then." He sighed in frustration. "I'm going to my workshop."
"Tony, wait_"
Ignoring Pepper, he set it up so no one besides Bruce could disturb him, and then called Bruce down.
"Tony, what's up?"
"We need Ultron."
"What?"
"You heard me. We need Ultron. The scepter? That has what we need to make it."
"Tony, I know you're upset about Holly, we all are, but_"
"Damn it, Bruce! I'm envisioning a suit of armor around the world. The next alien invasion wouldn't be able to happen."
"Then only people would be able to hurt people, right?"
"I wouldn't have to go on fucking missions that put my daughter at risk!" Tony shouted. After a moment, he sighed and shook his head. "I just… need to do something. Thor's leaving for Asgard soon, and until we find Holly to go and save her, he wont be back. The scepter sure as hell wont be back. We have just a few days with this thing."
"You're saying that we create Artificial Intelligence without consulting the team?"
"I don't have time for a city council meeting, Bruce. One week. This could be the key to world peace. The Avengers could retire."
"We'd better get to work, then."
The next morning, waking up felt like climbing out of a pool of molasses. I remembered Ajax and being injected. I remembered that my father and the Avengers were supposedly dead. So, I guess they haven't brainwashed me. I knew that when I woke up, I would be in a dangerous situation. But still, part of my hoped that this was just dream, the whole thing, and I would wake up safe in my bed in Stark Tower. I would get hounded by Steve in morning workout, spar against Natasha and hopefully last more than five seconds, work on my suit… I tried not to let a sob out. Thinking about them wouldn't help me now.
I was more awake now, and I realized that my shoulders and wrists were extraordinarily sore. I wondered why, tried to flex them, and then when I realized I was handcuffed to the bed, I started panicking. Opening my eyes, I tried to sit up, but the handcuffs held me back. There were nineteen other girls, most older looking, all bigger looking, then me. All were also handcuffed to their own beds. At least I wasn't the only one.
"Good morning, Holly," A woman said pleasantly. I looked up. She looked slightly like Natasha in the basic features. Not enough to be related. I was definitely in Russia.
"Who the hell are you?" I asked, trying not to seem vulnerable as I strained against the cuffs.
"All of the children of the Red Room call me Madame B," she said. "Sleep well?"
I tried to think clearly. The Red Room… this was where Natasha was raised, or at least it was an imitation of it. So yes, Russia. My mind was racing. After a few seconds, I remembered that I had been asked a question. Should I be polite? Rude? Threatening? Scared? I settled for myself.
"Um, well, considering I passed out because someone injected me with some blue shit that made my veins feel like they were on fire, no, not really."
I saw the other girls looking at me, sneering at me. I deduced that these girls had actually been together for a long time. I was the outsider now. Like when I had gone to middle school as an eight year old- they hated me for being different, for being brilliant. Thank God I was only in middle school a year, and most of the other kids were stupid, so I easily dealt with them.
Of course, if these girls had been raised in the Red Room like Natasha was, then they could probably kill me six different ways before I could blink an eye.
Madame B smirked. "Good. You have a special instructor today."
She pointed to a man with chin length brown hair, unkind eyes, and a metal arm. I felt a weird jolt in the back of my mind. Like I recognized him from a photograph, or a memory, or… something. I tried to remember, but it hurt to trace the memory, so I stopped.
"Whatever."
The man unlocked my handcuffs from the bed, but then slapped them on the opposite wrist so I was now double-cuffed. He took me out of our sleeping room and blindfolded me before leading me down a series of corridors and into a room. I didn't bother telling him that blindfolding me had been useless. I could have found my way back to the sleeping room even with the blindfold on. How stupid did he think I was?
"Stark, what we are doing to you will make you stronger."
He took off the blindfold. I was in a torture room. I prayed that my mutation would come quickly- maybe it would be something I would use to escape. But with my luck, I probably didn't have a mutation, and then I would just be tortured until I died.
First, I was injected with something. Immediately after, my heart rate was through the roof, I was shaking uncontrollably, and I felt hyper alert. My mind just raced. I couldn't hold on to a solid thought.
Then, I was whipped. My hands were tied to a post, and he repeatedly lashed me. I think the whip had metal embedded into it. I refused to make a sound. It was just like the 'game' my stepfather had played so many times; if I begged, if I made a sound, then I lost. I wasn't sure how many times I fell unconscious and woke up. I think the thing I got injected with was something that kept me awake so it was harder to pass out- it felt like adrenaline, I supposed afterwards.
I've been through worse and survived, I reminded myself.
After what felt like hours, the man threw down the whip. "Get up," he said gruffly, and I forced my bloodied and bruised body into a standing position. Once I was on my feet, he punched me in the face, sending me flying. "Get up!" He spat.
I staggered to my feet. "You can't break me," I snarled. This jerk had no idea who he was dealing with. I had already been through the worst; the day I realized and accepted my mom was not going to protect me from my stepfather. I could handle physical pain.
The man smiled. "Well, let's find out how true that is."
I wasn't sure how many days had passed since I woke up this morning. It felt like years.
I was already handcuffed to my bed (laying on my stomach this time- my back was too sore to lay on), even though the other girls weren't in here yet. They had followed the normal day; ballet routines, sparring, weapons training. I'd give anything to be with them. But at least I hadn't uttered a sound during the torture session with the metal armed man.
After he hit me, he forced me into a tub of ice water for what felt like hours. I wasn't sure if it was hours or not- I didn't think that someone could survive being in freezing temperatures for a long time. It numbed the pain for awhile, but I still couldn't stop shivering.
"Stark. It's dinner time. Get up." Madame B unlocked my cuffs. Refusing to show weakness, I immediately sat up, rubbed my wrist, and stood. She took me to a vast room with scrubbed wooden tables and benches. I wasn't hungry, not even a little bit, but I could almost hear Pepper's nagging voice telling me to eat, that I needed my strength, and that made me move forward and sit down.
I had to admit that even though the Red Room was no vacation, the food was decent. It wasn't anything I'd had before- curry of some sort, maybe? But it was good, and there was a lot of it. Man, if they were really trying to torture me, they had to try harder. Tempe was shittier than this- being neglected, starved, and beaten by people who were supposed to take care you of and love you was a million times worse. This was something I could handle.
I was halfway through my portion when the other girls started coming in. My shoulders tensed. Oh, boy, I told myself. Here we go.
It was dead silent in the room as they sat down and started to eat. No one was talking, but everyone was shooting filthy looks at me. I sighed, crossed my arms. "My name is Holly Stark. I'm from Tempe, Arizona. How's it going?"
They looked at me like I was crazy. I probably am. These kids are trained assassins. Whatever little tricks Natasha taught me were nothing compared to what they knew. But I also knew the hierarchy- they felt threatened by the new presence. If I lost a few tussles, then they'd just laugh me off as useless and for the most part leave me alone. Of course, they'd pick on me. But my smart mouth could get me out of pretty much anything; or dig me into a deeper hole. At least I'd learn from the tussles. Natasha had told me once that only the enemy could show you where you were weak.
"So, who wants to spar?" I managed to get out. This was going to hurt.
A few days later, nothing had changed. Tony, the rest of the Avengers, and Jane were sitting around the living room, the same thing they had all been doing for the past four days. Pepper had gone back to work, finally. Tony and Pepper had been arguing most of the time she was there about expressing his feelings, and he just brushed her off. Fury had instructed them to get some rest, giving them a few days off, but Tony couldn't even consider it. He worked on Ultron or worked on a new suit for Holly. Currently, he was holding a glass of scotch, but hadn't had a sip yet. He hadn't drank since Holly's first panic attack, and he couldn't bring himself to now. The Avengers, agreeing that Tony shouldn't be alone, were trying their best to distract him, but he just sat there, clenching his fists, and giving short, one-word answers. All of the team was a mess. They would be okay if there were something to distract them, but right now, they were just waiting for word on Holly's whereabouts.
It was well past two A.M, and Steve was about to just get the team to try to go to bed (though he knew he would be unsuccessful, just like the last few nights) when they heard an ungodly screech. Something that looked like it was a mangled, B-list version of Tony's suits staggered out of the elevator… but there wasn't a human in it.
"Stark, what is that?"
"Uh…"
The Thing was babbling to itself, not really making sense, talking about strings. Then, clear as day, he said casually, "I had to kill the other guy. He was a good guy."
"You killed someone?"
"I had to… for peace." A recording of Tony's voice suddenly sounded. I'm envisioning a suit of armor around the world."
"It's Ultron," Bruce realized.
"In the flesh. Well, not yet… But I'm ready. For the mission."
"What mission?" Natasha asked.
"Peace in our time," Ultron said, and then the Iron Legion flew through the walls and attacked.
The battle that ensued was short lived, despite that it was sudden and no one was prepared. Luckily, Cap's shield and Thor's hammer were nearby. However… one of the Iron Legion had gotten away. With the scepter.
"That was dramatic," sneered Ultron when all of the other Iron Legion suits were destroyed. "I'm sorry, I know you mean well, but you didn't think it through. You want to protect the world, but you don't want to change. There's only one path to peace… the Avengers' extinction."
Thor chucked his hammer at the suit and it exploded. Then he flew off to chase the suit with the scepter.
"All our work is gone," Bruce said. "Ultron escaped through the internet." The Avengers were now in Tony's workshop surveying the damage.
"He was in everything and wiped it out. Files, surveillance.. it's gone. He probably knows more about us than we know about each other," Natasha stated, crossing her arms across her chest.
"He could access anything- nuclear codes- he's in the internet. We need to make some calls, assuming we still can," Clint stated.
"He said he wanted us dead," Natasha said.
"He didn't say dead," Steve retorted. "He said extinct."
"He also said he killed somebody," Clint reminded them.
"But there wasn't anyone else in the building," Dr. Foster said.
"Yes. There was," Tony said in monotone. He flipped a remote and it showed the holographic shattered remains of Tony's closest friend and his only confident, Jarvis. For the second time in the past few days, Tony Stark fell to his knees, broken.
