Chapter 10
The Ultron Invasion Part I
It was a dark and quiet night in New York City, as the villainous gang of mutants approached the abandoned dock house, the given meeting spot from their mysterious and unknown contact. The slender feminine fatale, and group leader paused uneasily before the group entered the building.
"Something about this just seems off." Mystique spoke, as she examined the building hoping find some sort of sign of a trap.
"C'mon Mystique." A deep masculine voice spoke from behind her. "I'm sure it's just another well paying deal. With the dangerous reputation we've been building lately, this person would have to be a total idiot to try to cross the New Brotherhood."
Mystique considered the words of her comrade in shiny silver armor, the mutant known as Avalanche. She turned around to her impressive team of malicious mutants consisting of Avalanche, master of seismic waves, the Blob, a large immovable man with not a lot of intelligence and a very short fuse, and Pyro, the manic fire controller.
"Perhaps you're right," Mystique agreed, still considering all possible dangerous outcomes.
"The way I see it," Pyro gave a nasty grin as he lit up a fireball in his hand, "there's really only one way to find out. Let's go in and meet this bloke already!"
"Let's be smart about it." Mystique spoke as she began walking to the door once more. "I'll go in first, if I press my distress signal, you all blast in ready to fight, got it?"
"I hope there's a fight." Blob punched his fist into his palm, as laughed in a way perfectly fitting for a dumb oaf.
All the lights were off in the building. Mystique entered into pitch black and cautiously walked further into the vacant dock house. She grimaced as she grew tired of the cloak and dagger routine of her contact and finally yelled out loud as to be heard by all.
"Whoever you are, in your message you said you had a very high paying job opportunity for the skill set that myself and my team possess. I'm getting tired of the ambiguity of this entire situation…show yourself and let's get on with it already!"
There was a long silence that for Mystique seemed to last thirty minutes, but really was only two or three. Suddenly, a large generator was turned on and the building became fully lit. As ceiling tiles lit up the room, Mystique saw that she was not standing in an abandoned dock house but a very technologically advanced lair. She looked around the building confused, very curious as to who this contact was. Within moments the disease of her curiosity was cured.
In the center of the room a levitating platform slowly descended with a notorious and infamous figure standing on it. Mystique looked at the robot known as Ultron from top to bottom. The tales she had heard about the crimes that this atrocity had committed rivaled even her own ledger. Mystique worked hard to mask her fear with a stern exterior.
"Mystique." The lifeless and robot voice spoke. "You have entered the building alone, no doubt wanting me to think you are alone and without your fellow mutant allies. Such deception would be a useful strategy among humans, but is irrelevant in my presence."
"Is that your way of saying you come in peace?" Mystique asked, unsure if she should be preparing for combat, "Or is that your way of saying you are strong enough to take care of me and anyone else I bring?"
"Both statements are factual." Ultron responded as he stepped of the platform onto the floor and walked forward. Mystique held her ground working hard not to tremble. "But they are minuet points. I have brought you here with a specific task in mind."
"And just what would that be?"
"I want to employ you and your mutant Brotherhood to go against the Avengers. Your powers will be a reasonable challenge for them to overcome. The battle would be very beneficial for my plan for this world."
"We'd be a reasonable challenge for them to overcome?" Mystique mocked Ultron and his condescending robot mannerisms, "Why bother paying us if you don't think we could win? Clearly you haven't seen the firepower I have at my disposal with the Brotherhood…the Avengers would be no match for us!"
"Pride is another fault within the human race." Ultron interjected, "Time and time again you have fought against advisories such as the Avengers only to be defeated. Yet you still are confident you have what it takes to win. Such folly is one of the thousands of reasons why to insure true peace among humans, I must follow through with my plan of taking over this planet and enslaving your pathetic race."
"This is an example of what us humans refer to as the pot calling the kettle black." Mystique hissed back at the powerful robot. "If what I've read is true, the Avengers have taken you down several times! Whatever, I know all about your MO, Ultron…you're all about enslaving the humans. The Brotherhood has no place in aiding such ridiculous plans by glorified toasters like yourself. Before long, the mutants will be the ones in charge…not you. I'll let myself out, you may want to go find place to go charge your batteries before you find someone else to do your dirty work."
Mystique turned around and began walking away. She paused suddenly as she heard Ultron's laser beams in his eyes begin to light up. The shapeshifter readied herself for a quick dodge as the robot spoke once more.
"Clearly mutants are just as flawed as homo sapiens. It appears attempting to use you for my own benefits will not work as I had hoped. For your insubordinate actions, survival through slavery will not be an option. You will be among the first of your kind to be destroyed."
Powerful beams flared out of Ultron towards Mystique, who quickly lunged out of the way, did a barrel role, and pushed the distress signal on her belt. Suddenly the left wall caved in as the Blob crashed through rushing at Ultron like a mad man.
"The appearance of your mutant allies was the most likely outcome I calculated." Ultron coldly spoke as he shot lasers at Blob, who kept running towards him unaffected by the massive blasts.
The Blob jumped onto of Ultron with such force that the ground broke and began to cave into a crater around the large unstoppable man. Upon thinking he had crushed the robot the Blob chuckled as he sat.
"You're not so tough." Blob taunted his presumed dead foe. "But then again, what change did a bucket of bolts have against me?"
Suddenly the fat man's impression shifted from victory to surprise as he began being lifted by cold metal hands that held tightly to his torso. Now holding the mutant over his head, Ultron spoke.
"On the contrary…after analyzing your power and fighting force, my change of victory over you is 127,000 to 1. It is you who has no chance of survival, mutant."
Ultron tossed the Blob into a large machine as if he weighed less than one hundred pounds. Upon impact, the computer blew up and electrocuted the Brotherhood member, who screamed loudly in pain. Blob moved to stand up, but before he could arise to his feet Ultron had lunged towards him and punched the villain in the stomach with the force that could level a small town. The immovable object fell once again on his bottom, temporarily stunned.
Behind Ultron, Avalanche and Pyro rushed in from the hole that Blob had created. Shooting seismic waves into the ground, several large pieces of debris shot forth towards the monstrosity of a robot. With a wave of flames from his powerful flamethrower, Pyro ignited all the flying pieces of metal that flew towards Ultron.
The lifeless villain uses his powerful eye lasers to shoot through the rocks flying towards him to hit both Avalanche and Pyro. The impact of the lasers sent the Brotherhood members flying into a wall painfully. After watching her allies put down, Mystique rushed towards the terrible android and began to punch and kick the metal being as hard and fast as she could.
Ultron did nothing but allowed the attacks to strike him. Mystiques moves didn't damage him at all. Knowing this, Mystique leapt over her advisory and threw several small metallic dots from her belt that stuck onto Ultron on several spots. After landing behind the villain, Mystique pressed another button on her belt buckle that caused all the dots to erupt in electricity. Ultron grunted in pain and sent a surge of laser light around his body, instantly distinguishing the lightning dots Mystique had tossed onto him. Turning his torso and head around, Ultron grabbed Mystique by the neck and raised her.
"The Avengers may have presented me with formidable challenge, but your group of super powered beings are nothing more than a nuisance." Ultron was about to snap the shapeshifter's neck, when he considered an alternate use for the mutants. "Nevertheless, I have decided to postpone your death sentences until I have exhausted my use of you."
Commanding his devices with nothing more than a mental command, Ultron caused massive capsules to fall from the ceiling to trap the four brotherhood members. Blob tried to punch the capsule to break it, but upon hitting the cage he was electrocuted by power ten times stronger then the force he used to hit the capsule.
"I'm tired of being shocked…" Blob moaned as he fell to the ground a third time, defeated.
"What are you going to do with us?" Mystique demanded as she hit the cage to, creating a small electric surge that shocked her back. The blue woman grunted in discomfort.
"You all will be preserved and then your powers will be absorbed into my ultimate creation." Ultron responded, without emotion as he created two large crates to emerge from the floor near the encaged mutants.
"With my newest creation will have the power needed to completely decimate the human race with nothing more than a calculated command from my own AI." Ultron spoke as he looked at the large locked crate. "After my many attempts to enslave humans only to be foiled by their own fragility…I have recently learned the only way to bring peace among mankind is complete and total obliteration of your race, sparing no one."
"If that thing is so power, then why did you need us to take out the Avengers?" Mystique mocked. "You're not making any sense, metal genius!"
"I never needed you to destroy the Avengers." Ultron corrected his captive, not even giving her dignity of eye contact. "I requested your service to battle the new team of West Coast Avengers. Data collected from your battle would give me the final piece of knowledge needed for my second greatest creation."
Now Ultron moved to his other crate and pressed a button that opened the top, revealing a tall robot with a red head and wearing a green suit and cape. Ultron continued to speak as he examined the robot.
"After analysis of previous attempts to overthrow this world, I devised several plans to wipe out the human race. In all of them, there was at least a 35% chance that the Avengers could once again foil my attempts. Considering this, I calculated a new plan…if the Avengers would always be interfering with my plans to save the human race through destruction then a separate plan would be needed to destroy the Avengers. Thus I created my 2nd ultimate creation, a robot who is designed with the sole purpose to destroy the Avengers. In my many battles against my greatest foes, I was able to copy my data of their strategies into his head…but there have been new additions that I have not accounted for yet…"
"Quciksilver and Scarlet Witch." Pyro interjected, now understanding completely what Ultron was trying to get the Brotherhood to do.
"Precisely." Ultron agreed. "Two mutants typically aren't much to fret over, but I grow tired of being overthrown by the Avengers. I desire a plan with 100% success rate, and by analyzing every hero, even the new ones…my Vision of success can become a reality."
"Well Hell!" Pyro exclaimed piping up with Australian enthusiasm, "If you needed someone to take out Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, why didn't you say so earlier...before you kicked our asses and lasered me in the chest! If my mates won't join you in your cause to take out those two, let me go do it myself! I have a score to settle with Pietro and his demon of a sister."
"Pyro you fool!" Mystique yelled at her subordinate. "This thing wants to copy our powers into a robot and destroy the human race! And you are offering to help him?"
"I don't care what he's trying to do!" Pyro barked back, now his fiery temper and manic personality showing with his eyes. "I've waited a while for my payback on those two, and Ultron's given me a perfect opportunity…How bout it, mate? Send ole Pyro out there for a barbeque? I'll get you all the data you need…though I can't promise you're new robot will have the twins to fight against."
"An intriguing proposal." Ultron considered the flame thrower's offer. "Sending you out would allow me to get the data I needed…but there is a 85% chance that you would not last long enough in a battle with the Avengers for me to analyze all that I need to…"
"That's not true!" Pyro interrupted, only to be electrocuted by his capsule thanks to Ultron's mind.
"I will not send you alone…I have something else in mind that will serve as far more of a challenge to the ones known as Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. Worry not mutant, you will still be able to extract your revenge. It will be a fitting way for your life to end, before I destroy all of humanity."
"Pyro…" Mystique grumbled in disgust at her ally. "What are you thinking?"
"I always thought that guy was a few birds short of a Cuckoo's nest…." Avalanche muttered as Pyro's capsule was lifted. "And now I know it for sure…."
A few hours later, on the West coast at the Avengers Mansion, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, and Hawkeye's attention was immediately focused on a NEWS story from New York City. The three watched the TV as they saw Time Square being ignited in fire and a crazy man laughing as he had his own personal barbeque.
"Will you look at that?" Hawkeye said with a smile as he readied his bow and quiver. "Look Pietro, it's your old partner. What do you say we go pay him a visit, and get him to chill out with the whole…setting the city on fire thing?"
"He was NEVER my partner, really…" Quicksilver murmured, glaring at Pyro with disgust. "The only time me and Wanda have been caught doing our thing was when we went with that guy. I always thought he was a loser, but it seemed like a good idea at the time."
"Don't you mean the only time we got caught doing our old thing?" Wanda interjected. "Come on Quicksilver, let's go extinguish that little fire starter."
"Looks like you guys will have to go at it without me!" Hawkeye spoke, as he checked his Avengers card. "Distress call from the Cap…luckily with three of us, we can be 2 places at once! You don't need me anyway, this is mutant business!"
"You'd probably just slow us down anyway, Robin Hood." Quicksilver interjected as he sped around Wanda and picked her up, before speeding away. "Go save Captain America, we'll take care of Pyro."