Disclaimer: I do not own MARVEL; that credit goes to Stan Lee, Kevin Feige, and Disney.
A/N: Firstly, as a warning, the next chapter will be short.
Next, thank you to my reviewers; . Your enthusiasm helps me write faster and be inspired! I've decided to respond to reviews because of this. I'm sorry if your review isn't responded to, but I'm only going to respond to the most recent ones (in this case, the ones from chapter nine).
To Girlwith100names: Thank you! This is the first part of the final battle (in Age of Ultron).
To PrettyRecklessLaura: Thank you for your continued support! Sorry for the delay in posting a new chapter, but I will probably update within the week.
To ebarnea25: Thank you for reviewing! I will probably update this week!
To ILoveMarvel: Thanks! I love that line as well! Xania has some flaws, but I believe that she is as worthy as Thor - or, at least, she will be.
Alright, that's it! Please read and review! Here's Chapter Nine of the Stark Legacy:
Chapter Nine - Like the Old Man Said
Xania glared at Stark as she sat on the floor of the quintjet. He'd claimed the hammer thing was another illusion, but Wanda and Pietro convinced him (threatened him) to not imprison her until he had proof.
Suddenly, Xania spotted a flicker of green in the corner of her vision. She whipped her head around to see Loki standing there.
"What?" Stark asked. Xania glanced back at him.
"Nothing." She replied, "Just thought I heard something."
Xania illusioned herself to look like she was just staring off into space and to sound like she wasn't saying anything.
"Loki!" She said after she'd done so, unable to help the giddiness that rose in her voice, "It's been awhile."
"Something came up." He said, looking around, "Why are you with them?"
"Long story short, an insane robot-type thing wants to end all life on Earth and the only way we can stop him is to join forces with the Avengers." Xania replied, "Oh, and on a side note - they think that I'm you."
Loki's eyes widened, before he started laughing.
"They - thought -"He attempted to say between chuckles. Xania stared for a moment, never before having seen the god laugh so hard. But then she narrowed her eyes.
"It isn't funny!" She shouted back, and Loki immediately shut up, looking at her with wide eyes, "Stark wants to imprison me!"
Loki cursed, before immediately starting to pace. Xania watched as he - or his illusion, at least - walked enough to burn a hole in the floor.
"Loki?" She asked, and he held a finger up, shushing her.
"Only... on Earth… aren't sure… Odin… king… Thor…" Loki muttered to himself, going in and out of volume. Finally, he turned to Xania.
"I think," He said, starting what would be a very lengthy plan, "It's time for you to meet me for real."
Xania got to the church just as Stark left. She watched him go before walking up to Ultron.
"Xania." Ultron said, "Have you come to destroy me?"
Xania smiled evilly.
"They have chained you." Ultron continued, gesturing to the handcuffs around Xania's wrists.
"They could never." Xania replied, bringing her hands apart. The handcuffs fell - they'd never been put on properly in the first place.
"You cannot stop me." Ultron said confidently, but Xania could hear a twinge of uncertainty in his robot voice.
"Oh, I am not here to stop you." Xania said, and she morphed. Illusioning herself so everyone who saw her saw the illusion, she grew a few feet, her face changed to be more angular, and her clothes changed. She brought her hands to her head and the signature golden horns grew.
"Loki." Ultron said, "It was you the whole time?"
Xania grinned.
"Mortals are too weak." She replied, "They are mere ants. They need to be wiped out. Replaced. Earth needs to evolve."
Ultron smiled, hearing his own words repeated back at him.
"So it was all a trick?" He said. Xania nodded.
"Yes." She replied, "To gain their trust while, at the same time, weakening them. All you have to do now is strike."
Ultron nodded.
"What will you replace them with?" Xania asked, stalling but attempting to look interested.
"Don't you see?" Ultron asked, staring off into the distance, "The beauty of it, the inevitability. They rose, only to fall. The Avengers are my meteor, my swift and terrible sword and the earth will crack with the weight of their failure. They try to purge me from their computers, turn my own flesh against me. It means nothing. When the dust settles, the only thing living in this world will be metal."
Xania nodded.
"Then let me join you." She said, "Let me join you and we will destroy them together."
Ultron agreed eagerly - after all, who wouldn't want a manic god on their side who had a reputation of betrayal?
Xania walked up next to Ultron, staring out at the robots.
"What's the plan?" She asked.
"K-" He started, but was cut off by Thor touching down in the church. Thor's eyes widened once he saw Xania, and Xania cursed.
"Loki!" Thor called.
"He is on my side." Ultron boasted, "Too bad you're not on good terms with your brother. He'll be such a help in killing you."
"Thanks, but I'll pass." Xania muttered, and Ultron turned, eyes wide, just in time for Mijolner to fly into her outstretched hand. She swung it at Ultron, aiming for the kill -
Thor tackled her to the ground, and the hammer fell out of her hands.
"No!" Xania said, "You utter idiot -"
"I'm not letting you get away this time." Thor called, and Xania would have smacked her head if her arm wasn't already pinned down, "Stay here, brother."
He turned to face Ultron, but the AI was already gone.
"Idiot."
All of the Avengers gathered near the church. Xania stared at them, eyes wide.
"I knew it!" Stark crowed, "I told you so!"
Xania ignored him. She was watching Wanda and Pietro. They both looked betrayed.
I'm sorry.
"You - you lied the whole time?" Wanda asked, sounding broken.
"Oh, no." Xania replied, going through with the plan even though it hurt her on the inside to see Wanda like that, "Xania was real. She was broken, so I came to her. Offered to train her in her newly-found power. She was a prodigy; learning at a rate I'd only seen once before - in me. She began to trust me. When you escaped from HYDRA, I took her back to Asgard and made her fall unconscious under a spell. She'll awake when I return and release it. Then she'll be mine. I knew she'd never survive this." Xania gestured to the destruction around her, "So I saved her. She'll be grateful, when she wakes."
Wanda and Pietro looked torn between anger, sorrow, and relief.
"But-but why would she lie?" Pietro asked after a few seconds, blinking away tears.
Xania felt a surge of guilt.
"She didn't want to." Xania replied, deviating from the planned speech, "But I insisted, told her she could eventually introduce me to you two. That we would be a family."
The Avengers looked confused. Xania cursed her emotions. Of course, Loki didn't sound like that. He didn't believe in family.
"Of course, that was a lie." Xania continued, "Family is overrated."
Pietro and Wanda looked like someone was stabbing them and twisting the knife.
Family isn't overrated we can be family just hold on please
There was a long, drawn out silence.
"I know you're hurt." Rogers said, turning to talk to Pietro and Wanda, who were looking at the ground, "But we need to finish this. We'll deal with Loki later, and get your sister back." Wanda and Pietro looked up, a bit of hope shining in their eyes, "The question is," He looked at Xania, "Are you on our side?"
Xania, filled with a bit of hope that this could work, rolled her eyes, acting a bit more like her normal self.
"I literally just tried to kill Ultron." She said, "But I was stopped by this buffoon."
Thor was smart enough to look sheepish.
"Anyways, how would I dominate a race that doesn't exist?" Xania said with a Loki - like smirk.
"Well, let's kill him now." Rogers said, ignoring Xania's second comment.
Stark pointed at the drill.
"This is the drill." He said, "If Ultron gets a hand on the core, we lose."
All of the sudden, there was a loud noise. Everyone turned to see that Ultron was flying a few yards away.
Thor snorted.
"Is that the best you can do?"
Ultron raised his hand, and an army of robots crawled from underneath cars and from the side of buildings.
"This is the best I can do." Ultron said, "Exactly what I wanted - all of me against all of you."
He stared at Xania while he said it.
"You had to ask." Xania and Rogers said at the same time.
"This is the best I can do." Ultramarines said, gesturing to his army, "This is exactly what I wanted. All of you against all of me. How can you possibly hope to stop me?"
Stark looked around. Everyone had formed a circle around the drill.
"Well, like the old man said. Together."
The robots launched into acting, dive bombing the church, but they were ready. Xania creates multiple illusions of herself and teleported everywhere. She drove her dagger into a robot, and then teleported to the next. She was a blur through the Avengers, making sure to keep up her illusion the entire time.
Then it was just Ultron.
Vision, Stark, and Thor started shooting beams at them. Xania ran over to help, thrusting her hands forward and concentrating. She channeled all of her emotion, all of her love, hate, desire to survive to Ultron.
Yes, he was a robot, and he shouldn't be able to feel pain. But he wasn't just a robot. He was an A.I. He was more than a robot. And Xania could make him feel pain.
A ray of black came out of Xania's hands and hit Ultron. He immediately started withering.
And then, when it looked like Ultron wasn't capable of doing anything, they stopped. Xania stared at her hands, confused as to how she just did what she just did. It had seemed so right…
"You know, with the benefit of hindsight…" Ultron said weakly.
The Hulk knocked him into the sky.
The remaining robots turned and fled - off of the flying city.
"We can't let a single bot leave." Stark commanded, "Rhodey!"
"On it." Came a voice, and a large, grey, man-shaped can-type thing came into view, blasting some of the robots out of the sky. Stark and Vision lifted off of the ground and flew to help, leaving the remaining Avengers grounded.
"We got to move out." Rogers said to the rest of them, "Even I can tell the air is getting thin." It was true, everyone was out of breath - more than they should be from just finishing a fight with thousands of robots, "You guys get to the boats, I'll sweep for stragglers, be right behind you."
"What about the core?" The man with the bow - Barton - asked.
"I'll protect it." Wanda announced, stepping up, "It's my job."
A glance that Xania didn't understand was exchanged between Batron and her sister.
"Nat, let's go." Barton said as he turned away, speaking to Natasha, "You as well." He said more sharply to Xania.
"I will be there in a moment." Xania replied, "I would like to have a word with the Maximoffs."
Barton narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
"Do not worry." Wanda told him, "We can stop him if he tries something."
Wanda and Barton exchanged another one of those looks, and then Barton turned away. The three left.
"If you win," Xania told them, "I will make sure you see your sister again."
Pietro and Wanda looked confused at her generosity.
"She would kill me otherwise." Xania continued to cover up, "At least, attempt to."
Wanda and Pietro nodded, before turning to each other and ignoring who they thought was Loki.
"Get the people on the boats." Wanda said to Pietro.
"I'm not going to leave you here." Pietro replied, extra concerned for his sister now that he thought he had lost one. Pietro's concern made Xania's heart reach out to them, but she restrained from saying anything and blowing her cover.
"I can handle these." Wanda replied, lifting her hand and blasting off an approaching robot, "Come back for me when everyone else is off, and not before."
"Hmm." Pietro muttered.
"You understand?" Wanda asked commandingly.
"You know, I'm twelve minutes older than you." Pietro commented with a smile.
Wanda chuckled, smiling.
"Go." She said, and Pietro zoomed off.
And then it was just the two of them. Wanda's gaze darkened. Xania turned to go.
Xania looked back at Wanda, who was staring at her, one last time. The look of hate her sister gave her made Xania want to forgo the whole plan. But she couldn't - everything depended on it. But Xania knew what she was going to do as the idea entered her brain, and she couldn't stop herself, even though she tried desperately, so so desperately to stop her mouth from moving but her brain had been taken over by her heart and she couldn't stop herself -
I'm sorry Loki
"Wanda." Xania whispered, "We have a bond, maybe? A sisterhood?"
Wanda's eyes widened as it struck her.
"I'll be back." Xania promised, before racing off, "I promise."