So many reviews! I'm shocked!

I've got plenty of ideas for the 75 review stretch goal now. Keep those reviews coming in!

In other news, Happy New Year!

Now we see part of Stephanie's mysterious plan coming into play. Enjoy!


Lena tracked Thor and Ultron to the church- not a difficult task, considering the trail of destruction behind them. She slipped in stealthily, cape gathered in one hand, lightning in the other, and hid behind a pillar, watching.

"You think you're saving anyone?" Ultron was saying, as he grabbed Thor by the throat and lifted one fist high. Lena's hand clenched around the lightning. It bit at her palm, fighting her control. She forced it down.

"Hello," a cool voice murmured behind her. She didn't jump; she'd felt Lori's presence, probably because Lori didn't want her to startle and alert Ultron to her presence. "Planning to take Mjolnir yourself, or let the Vision go through with it?"

"It is his right," she murmured, watching as the Vision stood up and looked at Thor's hammer, lying innocently near him.

"I am Thor, son of Odin," Thor growled, watching Vision over Ultron's shoulder. "And as long as there is life in my breast, I am… running out of things to say!" he gasped. "Are you ready?!"

Ultron straightened, looked confused (for a robot), turned to see what Thor was looking at, and was promptly sent flying by Vision, who wielded Thor's hammer as if he'd been born to it- which, in hindsight, he probably had been.

"It's terribly well balanced," the Vision commented, as Thor summoned Mjolnir back to his hand.

"Well, if it's too heavy, you lose power on the swing, so," he said, slightly out of breath as he demonstrated and rested a hand on his hip, regaining his breath.

Lori and Lena took that opportunity to step out of the shadows in tandem, walking forwards. Lena let her cape fall to the floor once again, and her lightning danced up and down her arms as she walked to Thor's side. "You looked like you could take care of things," she said. "That is why I didn't interfere. That, and I only arrived a moment or two ago."

Lori laughed.


"Aha!" Tony shouted, as he dove through a robot and fired a few shots into the chest of the robot coming up behind him. "I got it! Create a heat seal. I can-" He got hit in the shoulder by a blast and restarted the thought. "I can supercharge the spire from below."

"Running numbers," Friday said immediately.

High above, an explosion caught his and Tasha's attention. "Aw sh-" Tasha muttered, as she watched a lifeboat list to the side. "Going up!"

She rocketed upwards and slammed into the bottom of the boat, putting full power into her thrusters to right it. Tony joined her a split second later and helped her get the lifeboat into position to dock.

"It could work," Friday said after a moment.

"Thor!" Tony shouted, as the lifeboat finally docked and they were able to pull away. "I got a plan!"

"We're out of time," Thor said, voice rough. "They're coming for the core."

"Rhodey, get the rest of the people on board that carrier," Tony ordered immediately. Tasha was already shooting towards the church, and he followed on her heels as Rhodey responded. "Avengers, time to work for a living."

He, Thor, Vision, Lena, Tasha, and Lori were the first ones to arrive at the church, and the amount of robots coming in was a slow stream that was gradually increasing. Pietro turned up not two seconds after the Starks touched down. He was quickly followed by Steve and Stephanie, who rammed through a few robots like bulldozers on their way into the church. Clint, Claire, and Wanda all walked in at the same time, and Pietro appeared in front of his sister, reaching out to touch her face. "You good?" he asked. She nodded an affirmative.

"Romanoff?" Tony asked, as he fired another blast. "You and Banner better not be playing hide-the-zucchini."

"Oh, my gosh," Claire said, pressing one hand to her face. "I did not need that."

"None of us did, believe you me," Stephanie said, glaring at Iron Man.

"Relax, shell-head," Natasha said over the communicators, and a few people peered out one window to see her coming towards them. "Not all of us can fly."

She was driving a bulldozer, a proper one, painted black and yellow. Nathan held onto the back, watching over the roof of the cab as Natasha plowed through cars and debris and robots- lots of robots.

She parked it against- well, crashed into- the fence surrounding the church and swung out of the cab gracefully, jogging into the church. "What's the drill?" she asked as soon as she arrived.

"This is the drill," Tony and Tasha chorused, gesturing to the pillar-like key in the center of the room. "If Ultron gets a hand on the core, we lose," Tony added, shooting a glare at Tasha that was clear even through the suit helmet he wore.

The last of the party to join arrived at precisely that moment. Hulk slammed into a few minions entering through one orifice in the church, quickly followed by Mini-Hulk. "Hey, big guys!" Stephanie called, walking over to Mini as she entered the main room. "You holdin' up all right?"

Mini gave her a nod and happy-sounding huff.

"Good. Ready to take out some minions?"

A much less happy huff.

"Excellent."

They turned to face Ultron as he appeared, hovering at a distance down the street. Thor, running on some serious adrenaline from his last fight with Ultron, roared, "Is that the best you can do?!"

"Oh, bad idea," someone muttered.

Sure enough, Ultron raised one hand, and another few hundred robot minions crawled out of everywhere, surrounding the church on all sides.

"You had to ask," Steve said wearily.

"This is the best I can do," Ultron said, raising his arms and stretching them out to indicate his army. "This is exactly what I wanted- all of you, against all of me." He scoffed. "How can you possibly hope to stop me?"

"Well, like the old man said," Tony said, and looked over at Steve. The two men exchanged looks, and Tony finished, "Together."

Hulk and Mini-Hulk let out raucous battle cries, ones that shook the ground, and Ultron's minions took off, racing towards them. The Young Avengers spaced themselves out to fill in the small gaps in the ranks, and the whole team got to work.

The battle was long, and intense. There was almost no room for talking, but the Young Avengers switched over to their private channel and started making smart-alec remarks as the battle raged.

"Did Vision just crush a bitch?"

"Dude, I missed it! Dangit!"

"Well I just watched Steve rip one's head clean off, and let me tell you- if he wasn't at least four and a half times my age, I'd be turned on."

"Oh my gosh, don't say that, that's disgusting!"

"Aight, Vision's officially my fave. He just-" a horrible grinding sound- "ripped this one minion's heart straight out."

"Guys, we missed 'I am a rotisserie chicken' Captain America."

"Wanda looks a helluva lot more pissed off here than she did in the movie."

"I think Thor forgot he had a hammer. He straight-up punched this dude's face in."

"I believe that Clint has forgotten that in order to use a bow, one must first keep hold of said bow."

"Man, Pietro's knuckles are gonna be bruised. I keep seeing him punch robots in the chest. Those things aren't made of flesh."

"I just watched Hulk rip one's head off with his teeth and spit it out. That's the most badass thing I've seen all day- and I've seen a lot of badass things."

"And Natasha still has her pew-pews- speaking of which-" a grunt- "where'd she get those taser sticks? I want some."

"No."

"But I want some!"

"Aaaaand-" as Ultron grew tired of observing the fray- "Player- what is it, like 17?- has joined the game."

Vision forced Ultron out of the church through the power of the mind gem and followed him, keeping the beam steady on his head. Tony and Thor followed, putting three more points of pressure on him. Lena and Tasha stayed behind, to keep defending the key, but the robots were starting to run out.

The flow slowed to a trickle, and the two girls decided to join their fathers outside. As they stepped out into the sunlight, though, it became clear that their efforts weren't needed. The combined forces were melting Ultron's face away, disgustingly. He let out an inhuman scream and collapsed.

They let up- far too early, in Lena and Tasha's opinions. Ultron slowly stood up. "You know, with the benefit of hindsight-" he started to say, and then Hulk punted him halfway to outer space. He turned to see a small pack of Ultron's minions, staring at him uncertainly. They turned tail and raced away. He roared and followed. Mini-Hulk- after what they swore was a long-suffering sigh- took off after him.

"They're trying to leave the city," Thor said abruptly, watching as the minions started sprinting off the edge of the city.

"We can't let 'em, not even one. Rhodey!" Tony called.

"I'm on it." There was a pause, during which Vision took off towards the swarm trying to escape, and then he said, "Oh no, I didn't say you could leave. War Machine, comin' at you, right a-"

They watched as the Vision exploded a few of the robots with the mind gem laser, before phasing his arms through one's chest and rending it in two.

"... Ok, what?"

Tasha cackled.


Back in the church, Steve turned to look at them. "We gotta move out. Even I can tell the air is getting thin. You guys get to the boats, we'll sweep for stragglers, be right behind you-" indicating Stephanie and him.

She waited for Clint to ask about the core, and Wanda to speak up, before speaking herself. "Wanda, I believe in you, but I'd feel better if at least one of the Young Avengers stayed back to help you. Would you be ok with that?"

"Who would you suggest?" she asked, instead of writing it off straight away. Stephanie considered that a success and cast her eyes over the Young Avengers.

"Lori," she said, as her eyes landed on the green-clad girl. "Her powers are similar to your own. She'll be helpful."

"I barely know you," Wanda said to Lori. "How do you know I can trust you?"

"You don't," Lori said simply. "But if you trust her-" at Stephanie- "she trusts me."

There was a pause. "Sister, if I cannot help you, then I'd rather someone stayed," Pietro said, before adding something in Sokovian they didn't understand. Wanda nodded.

"She may stay."

"Thank you," Stephanie said, and nodded to the others. "Disperse. Not one robot, hear?"

"Got it, Mom," they chorused raggedly, and spread out. Stephanie shook her head, laughed, and followed Steve.

Pietro paused, and Lori stayed out of the way, pretending not to listen to their little sibling exchange. "I'm twelve minutes older than you," he said, and Lori automatically thought of all the times 12 appeared in all the movies. Perhaps it was her suspicious roots, but she still wondered if the universe wasn't trying to tell them something with 12.

Then he was gone in a blur, and she set to work.