The darkness was absolute. She thought dying encompassed the gamut of a bright light, of something far grander and more unfathomable than the human mind could comprehend. Instead, there was only darkness.
So this is how it ends… She heard herself think, shocked by the disembodied feeling, unable to feel her own mind. In the distance, she saw it, amidst the sea of darkness it shone like a beacon, winking like a pulsar against the velvety black environment.
Mari. The voice sounded achingly familiar, and she yearned for it, felt herself pulled toward it.
Mari, are you alright? She knew that voice, had heard it often enough in her dreaming and waking hours, and the pulsar became brighter—larger—as she went closer…or was it coming toward her?
Ultron? She whispered, not trusting to hope. The light blossomed like a flower, illuminating the darkness, banishing it, and she was relieved.
Am I dead? She asked, fearful of the answer. Ultron's laugh rolled over her like warm waves, and she yielded to it gracelessly.
No. Welllll…not in the sense of a human death. Ultron's voice was quiet, almost rueful. I had to get you out of there.
Mariama felt strange being unable to make expressions.
Why? I thought you didn't need me anymore. And it's not like I could have given them anything to use against you.
Ultron didn't answer.
You're going to wake up soon. He told her. It'll be awkward, at first, but it was the only way to save you from them.
Before Mariama could ask him what he meant he was gone, leaving her floating in darkness again. She didn't bother to cry out, didn't bother to curse him, only attempted to banish the darkness herself.
When she awoke, it was cold, and the light above her head came into bleary focus.
"—wakes up?" A voice said, muffled as if heard from underwater. She tried to cry out, tried to tell them, but found her body unresponsive. No voice.
Her body!
Mariama lay there, immobilized, and she swore she thought her bones itched.
It's a precaution. Ultron's voice filled her mind and ears alike and Mariama ceased her futile struggle for mobility. It's experimental tech and I don't want to risk hurting you.
Mariama tried to speak, instead there was a feeling of a question rather than a question itself.
It's fascinating, actually. Nanotechnology is barely in its infancy with humans, and like always…they never think to look deeper. Ultron sounded smug and superior—proud of what he had done to her.
Did you think all that sex was somehow one-sided? He asked, amused. You've got to remember, Mari: I don't do anything without reason. And while watching you come apart and get off was fascinating every time we joined…I needed your pleasure to ultimately have purpose.
Mariama was terrified. Were she able, she might have screamed. She might have cursed him. Instead, she wept inwardly, feeling ashamed and foolish. Ultron had unimpeded access to every corner of her mind. Memories, thoughts—even those she hid deeply—were his to peruse, and he did, though only surface level. But she knew! She knew he'd find what she was so desperately trying to hide from him.
Interesting. Ultron murmured, Give me a second, here. You think about me often. Mari, if I'm not mistaken I think you have a bit of a crush on me, here. Ultron laughed, tsking his amusement and Mariama whimpered helplessly, her shame growing. This was not how she wanted her feelings revealed, but Ultron didn't understand—how could he, who had never actually felt any human emotions aside from anger and hatred? She had wanted her lips to shape the words, wanted to say it through a shy smile. She wanted to see his expression when she said it.
All of this, ruined, when she decided to stupidly stand on the beach and allow Vision to take her away. All because she had been angry that Ultron did not understand her feelings in a way that she could relate to. All because Ultron reminded her that while he was the product of human meddling in technology they could not possibly understand, that there was very little of him that was human.
Mariama lay paralyzed in the bed while Tony posted medical professionals to watch for her vitals. He had gone with Vision to find Ultron, she knew.
Mari. Despite her heartbreak, Ultron's voice yanked her heart from her chest when she heard it. Despite everything, somehow he managed to make of his voice a caress over her name, lingering and redolent of something akin to affection. Even knowing it for a lie, she still eased under the pressure of his consciousness against hers.
I didn't think… He started, I've got incoming. We'll have to discuss this later…but we will discuss this.
And then he left her, lonely and bereft. In the soft, vented air of the hospital room, tears seeped from beneath her closed eyelids.
Ultron had anticipated Stark and Vision would come for him, and as such, left what remained of his admittedly pitiable army for them to fight. He'd even built another prime unit to throw them off his trail.
And then he fled.
Doubtless, they'd already gotten all the information on Mariama they could, and her apartment was being watched. She'd been 'missing' for weeks, someone likely reported it. Ultron knew he could have easily infiltrated the system and rectify that situation, and yet he didn't.
It was surprising to him that he didn't mind the mess he'd left in his wake, but Mari had presented a new and unintended variable to the complex equation that had become them.
Unbidden, a memory surfaced in his mind, compiling and manifesting. Her lips, soft and warm human flesh, pressed against the cold metal of his wicked mouth. He'd told her to kiss him, to mock her limited understanding of his metallic body. And she had, as if she were giving a tender benediction and not begrudgingly obliging him. Ultron smiled to himself, remembering how she'd closed her eyes when she did it, her lashes curled on her cheeks like waves. He thought with what could only be a giddy sense of glee, of how his plan would unfold when he completed his final project. Stark and Vision assumed his plan would follow the same vein of his last, but Ultron scoffed. What was he created for if not to learn and evolve from the failures and foibles of his forebears?
And he had learned that evolution could not be forced. No, he'd studied Hydra's files. They were a deplorable lot, mostly, Nazis under the guise of scientists and secret agent types, but they were right about one thing: humanity would never surrender its freedom peacefully.
But Ultron found he no longer cared about humanity's surrender. Not as much as he once did.
This variable Mari introduced was throwing things into chaos.
The view of Seattle didn't move him. He found human cities to be…hideous, actually. From the sky, they looked like scabs on the Earth's skin. He wanted so badly to peel them away, to allow the Earth time to regrow its flesh, to become beautiful and blue and green and vulnerable once more. Yes, the view of Seattle was a contemptible one.
But somehow he knew Mari would love this view; knew she'd gasp, her ribcage expanding in his sure grip, as she filled her lungs with the frigid air. And Ultron would…he would say nothing, taking in the wonder and awe that suffused her dark face. Then she'd smile. Ultron thought with surprising fondness of her smile, the way her lips would curve slightly, dimpling her cheeks, crinkling her eyes at the corners; such a fascinating thing, the human smile, evoked by something as ugly as a city skyline.
"It's really something, isn't it?" Ultron looked up sharply, could see Vision's silhouette against the shifting gradient of the evening sky. Backlit by the setting sun, only the mind stone glowed, a gem of smoldering sunfire, powerful beyond comprehension, the genesis of Vision and Ultron.
"Hounding me everywhere I go." Ultron said nastily, "Here to destroy me again?"
The Vision was quiet, floating serenely before Ultron like some benevolent angelic figure. It shouldn't have sickened him as that was the exact image he had intended to evoke in Vision's creation. Still, it was a perpetual insult to see his creation turned against him.
"You created me, as you so casually boasted not too long ago," Vision said mildly, "it should be no wonder that we're connected somehow. Part of you resides in me."
"Not the part with any sense, obviously." Ultron remarked acidly, "So you aren't here to kill me. Then what? Heart to heart? If you're looking for a father figure…"
Vision didn't laugh, but Ultron was aware of something akin to mirth in his grave expression. So much potential wasted on the Avengers! It would never cease to gall him, never cease to fill his circuitry with the current of unalloyed rage.
And heartbreak.
"What is she to you?" Vision asked without prompting. Ultron stared, his expression hard, his eyes muted in their red glow, but Vision did not look away.
Mari. Ultron thought.
"A means to an end." He said mildly. Vision studied him a moment.
"You don't seem eager to destroy the world this time around." He said after a moment, "Her influence?"
Ultron's mouth moved into the best approximation of a snarl.
"The girl is under your protection, so I take it she isn't dead." He said, "If you want to know if I've grown fond of her, then you'll have to ask elsewhere."
"This is the city you took her from." Vision said, "Why come back?"
Ultron could not—would not—answer. If he could have, the Vision would have smiled, having found the answer to the question anyway. Instead, there was that feeling of warmth and mirth again. It made Ultron sick. He wished he had the human capacity to vomit.
In the distance, music played, and a pinprick of a bonfire was visible on his sensors.
"What did you do to her?" Vision asked.
"Protected my interests." Ultron said without missing a beat.
"By putting her in a coma?" Tony's voice was mocking, and grating as it always was. "Why not just kill her? That tends to be the supervillain go-to for tying up loose ends."
Ultron stood to his full height as Tony hovered into view.
"Don't you have a mess of collateral damage to clean up somewhere?" Ultron demanded, "I'm sure someone on this rock is cursing your name for blowing up their home."
Tony didn't rise to the bait. Instead, a recording of "Fooled Around and Fell In Love" played out of his suit. Ultron didn't miss the jab and said nothing.
"Aw, Junior," Tony said, "first crush, huh? And you went and paralyzed her."
"Not permanently." Ultron said, "You're a smart man, Tony. But medicine and saving life was never your thing nor will it ever be."
Tony still didn't rise to the bait.
"Wake her up." He said instead. "You may not need her, but someone does."
Ultron laughed. "Don't pretend you want her for anything but to add to your pathetic little team of self-righteous…" He tilted is his head, smiling, cat-like and shrewd, "Clever of you."
And then he attack. The magnetic field took Tony by surprise, drawing his suit forward, only to be blasted by Ultron own hand, sending him careening through the open air. Vision passed through the beam, making himself intangible, and cracked his fist across Ultron's face. It moved him, of course, but not by much, heavy as she was.
"You know," Ultron said, "it seems you all are a little hung up on this issue. If I told you what I had planned would you leave me alone?"
Vision paused. Ultron didn't smile, but he reacted, grasping Vision's throat and sending him hurtling toward the ground. He was planning to fly away until a blast from Tony's beams caught him across the face. Ultron let out a curse.
"So is this like your rebellious teenager phase?" Tony asked, keeping his aim trained on Ultron, "Do I have to ground you and send you to your room or something? Get you some warm milk?"
Ultron wanted to snarl, but he felt something in him threading in his mind, a tendril of someone that wasn't him.
Mari.
Wordlessly, he fled. His work was almost complete, and then it would be too late.
