Rising Tides
Chapter Twelve – The Mind Stone
Percy Jackson
When Percy arrived at the Theta Protocol Facility, it was about eight at night. As he left the quinjet, he took his things and went to Fury's office. It was time to move into his new quarters on the Helicarrier. This ship would be his new home for the next little while at least and he needed to get assigned his quarters.
He manoeuvred his way around the massive vessel, avoiding bumping into the agents who scurried across its corridors getting it ready for launch. When he finally reached Fury's office, he knocked on the large door. Moments later, the door swung open and it revealed the colonel talking to Maria Hill.
"Make sure that the Avengers get that sceptre back and make a successful handoff to Asgard, Hill." the colonel said. "We can't have that thing on Earth anymore."
Hill nodded a reply before Fury closed the communications link. The screens went back to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s logo and Fury turned to him.
"Agent Jackson." the man greeted.
"Sir." he said curtly.
"How was New York?" the colonel asked. "Anything interesting happen?"
How could Fury have known about him visiting his parents in New York? The only people that were aware were Phil, Melinda and Fitz. His expression must have shown his confusion because Fury kept on talking.
"I am aware of everything that happens at S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Jackson." Fury told him. "I may not be the director anymore, but I still keep my eye on things."
He took a moment to process this information before he answered the colonel's original question. "New York was great." he told the man. "I got to see my little sister, Penelope. But I think that you already knew that."
"I did." Fury told him. "Are you here to get assigned quarters?"
"Yes, sir." he replied.
"Your new quarters are on Berthing Level 5. Room number 525." the colonel told him. "Get settled in, agent."
"Thank you, sir." Percy replied leaving the man's office. He used his S.H.I.E.L.D. lanyard to access the elevator and hit a button on the screen that said 'Berthing Level 5'. Moments later, he stepped out onto another deck and walked through the corridors as he tried to find his new room. It took him maybe ten minutes to find his room, but that was probably due to the fact that the Helicarrier was massive.
He opened the door to his room using his lanyard and found it to be very similar to his room at the Playground. For a room on an aircraft carrier, it was quite large. The room had a queen size bed on one side of the room and a glass screen mounted on the wall. Across from the door, on the far side of the room was a massive window that allowed him to see the parts of the carrier that had a view of the outside. Currently, that view was a drab one of the concrete floor of the hangar, but he imagined that once in the air, the view would be pretty great.
As he went inside and dropped off his bag, he approached the window. He looked across the large chasm to see quarters just like his and when he turned a bit to the right, he could see a lab that faced the chasm as well as the mess hall. Percy noticed that there was a remote to control the privacy settings for the room. He supposed that it was to darken the window's glass and to bring it back to its transparency.
The bathroom that was in the room was actually pretty decent as well. It was mid-sized and had a large shower. He went around the room to also find that it had a decently-sized closet where he could keep his things and a chest of drawers.
Percy unpacked all of his clothes, making sure to separate the ones that needed to be washed and put away the clean ones. He would have to do laundry later, it would seem. He decided to take a shower to get his mind off of things and finally get settled in.
He undressed and opened the wide glass door that led to the modern shower and stepped in. The door closed behind him and Percy turned the water up to hottest setting. As he showered, Percy thought about the message that he had gotten on his phone from Fitz. The engineer had notified him that all of his equipment was already sent over to the Helicarrier's armoury.
After having showered, he dried himself using his powers and exited the shower. Percy put on some boxer-briefs and climbed into bed and pulled the covers over him. He went to bed peacefully.
The next morning, Percy had decided to go through his routine of waking up, brushing his teeth, working out and showering before finally eating breakfast. As a workout, Percy decided to brush up on sword-fighting given that he hadn't used Riptide in a while. It took him a while to find the gym, but once he did, he hacked away at the training dummies until he had almost exhausted himself.
He got back to his room and showered before heading down to the mess hall. Like in all S.H.I.E.L.D. compounds, the mess hall was a massive room where there was a seemingly endless supply of food. There were lots of people on the ship, but people actively avoided him. He attributed that to the fact that he was both the new guy and the guy who was assigned personally to the Helicarrier by the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Still, it was a bit daunting to have people act like that around him. He sort of felt like an exhibit. Percy tried to pay no attention to it though and just went on with his day. He went to the armoury to see if his gear was actually all here and was happy to find that Fitz had sent over all of his things, as promised.
He picked up a tactical suit and changed into it, having been accustomed to wearing it around the base. He felt his pocket and found Riptide there and strapped to his back was the replica that Fitz had made. He headed down to the bridge to try and find the colonel.
Percy found Fury there barking orders at agents who scurried to do as the man ordered. He couldn't really gauge the man's mood given that he had a seemingly permanent scowl on his face, but that didn't stop Percy from going to see the man.
"Colonel." Percy greeted.
"Agent Jackson." the man replied turning to him. "Is there anything you need?"
"I was hoping that you could clarify my purpose on this ship." Percy told the man. "I'm supposed to stay on it as your resident enhanced person, okay, that's great. But we're on land, in a giant hangar. So what exactly do you want me to do?"
"I want you to sit tight, agent." Fury answered. "But Coulson also gave me your file, which means that you'll have trouble doing that. Am I wrong?"
Percy shook his head no. It was pretty obvious that he needed to distract himself to stop his ADHD from getting out of control. He would get medication for it, but his demigod physiology didn't react well with substances that tried to stop his body's natural reflexes.
"Head down to the gym." Fury ordered. "There's a new class of recruits that Coulson brought me. Teach them hand-to-hand combat. Remember that they are new recruits, Agent Jackson—they are not specialists like you."
"Yes, sir." Percy answered, glad to have something to pass the time.
He went back up to the gym and saw that it was full of agents, most of them quite young-looking—as if they were just graduating high school or just going off to college. The moment that he entered the room, everyone stopped talking and stared at him. That only lasted for a moment before they went back to their discussion.
"Line up!" Percy barked out causing the young recruits to stumble as they rushed to their positions.
Whipping them into shape was gonna be fun. Percy finally understood exactly why Melinda had been smirking so much when she was training him.
Wanda Maximoff
Today was going to be the day that Wanda finally got peace. The Avengers were on their way to the Fortress of Novi Grad, where she could finally give Tony Stark what he deserved. The Merchant of Death would know her pain—the pain of seeing your parents fall to their deaths at the young age of ten.
She knew that helping Hydra was probably not the best course of action to honour her parents' legacy, but what choice did she have. Her country was a turbulent one, ruled by dictators who seemed to be on a monthly shift before being assassinated by the next dictator. She had been powerless seventeen-year-old girl who needed to be empowered. One year later, her brother Pietro and her had new abilities.
Pietro was capable of harassing momentum and use it as speed and force. She could control the energy that existed in all things, living and non-living, and connect her mind to other beings. Hydra had been a means to an end for her—she didn't believe in their ideas about global domination. That was why she wasn't worried about Hydra's systematic destruction that had been occurring over the course of the last months.
She saw as Baron von Strucker worried over the state of his fortress. By nightfall, the Hydra base here would be long empty of its inhabitants. Strucker's forces, while powerful, were scattered and lacked the conviction to get things done.
"We're leaving." Pietro told her. "We won't be going down with Hydra. We will get our revenge on Stark."
She knew her brother was right. She nodded and watched as he bolted from the room in a blur of blue and white light. She sneaked around the corridors of the fortress until she was far enough away from the central command centre.
She could hear as Dr. List and Baron von Strucker talked about her brother and her. The two vile scum were idiotic at best. They never hid how they truly felt about them—to Hydra, they were tools. Those two were idiotic because they wanted to empower strangers, in hopes of getting powered individuals on their side.
That wouldn't work out for them. She and Pietro already knew that Hydra was a lost cause. She heard over the last few months how the serpentine organization S.H.I.E.L.D. was making their mark on Hydra. Bases were taken out, anarchy was rising in the organization. Soon, Hydra would be long forgotten as they crumbled from all sides.
That wasn't any of her concern though. She was making her way around the fortress, looking for Stark when she turned a corner and heard Captain America talking to Strucker. Strucker smirked as he saw her, but that moron didn't know that she wasn't here for him.
She silently climbed up the stairs as the captain was distracted. He was asking about her bother and her. She concentrated her energy and lifted her hands, sending a pulse of energy at the super-soldier, launching him down the stairs. She didn't stick around for Strucker and backed out of one of the doors, sealing it behind her.
She would find Tony Stark and she would end him. She made her way down to what she liked to call the cavern of horrors. It was a vast chasm beneath the fortress housing all of Hydra's stolen alien artifacts. She could see Stark approach the sceptre and speak with one of the other Avengers.
As her tormentor went even closer to the sceptre, she raised her hands and put a vision in his mind. She would get to torment her tormentor before she ended him. A nice little vision of Stark's worst fears would play in his head.
She could see the man tense as he experienced the vision and was about to send a vortex of energy through him when she saw his subconscious. She put her hands back down and smirked. The man would be his own downfall. He would build the instrument of his demise and look to it for hope.
She quickly back-pedalled until she was farther away from the Merchant of Death. By now, her brother had speeded to her and was about to engage the man that killed their parents when she put her hand in front of his chest. Her brother looked at her, before glancing back to Stark, who was about to take the sceptre.
"We're just going to let him take it?" Pietro asked angrily.
She smiled at her brother. He didn't see what she saw. "Yes." she smirked. "Don't worry, our fight is far from over—it just got a little better."
She made her way out of the fortress with her brother following behind, a harsh expression on his face. Her brother wouldn't understand her vision of the being who would bring about Stark's demise. He wouldn't see the Merchant of Death meticulously craft the instrument of his doom.
It was days later that Wanda had gotten a sign of her impending success. Pietro and her had been holed up in a ratty motel in the outskirts of Novi Grad when she had gotten a package delivered to their room. Inside it was a phone, loaded with a single message, in Sokovian. Tsentr goroda sobor, 10:00 ПМ.Ya mogu dat' vam to, chto vy khotite.
That was how she and Pietro were walking to the church in the cold night of a Sokovian spring. That cathedral had been destroyed in the Bombings of Novi Grad eight years ago. She knew it well enough. She remembered how her parents brought her brother and her to this very church on Holidays.
Her mother would tell her to be kind and loving, to reject prejudice and hate. Wanda could remember playing with her mother in the church's yard after praying. She quickly cleared those thoughts from her mind. She couldn't handle seeing her mother in her head, knowing that if she was still here, she would be ashamed of the things that she and Pietro had done.
They were now both standing in the ruined church, the stars and moon lighting up the empty space. She could see the chair from which the priest would sit and pray with the congregation. She felt almost wrong to be in this place—she and her brother had long given up God and she felt only pain by being in the church.
She could see a person, wearing a cloak, sitting in the chair. "Talk, and if you are wasting our time—" she said before being interrupted.
"Did you know this church is in the exact centre of the city?" a gravelly voice asked. It sounded vaguely mechanical in pitch. She and her brother approached the voice as they listened.
"The elders decreed it so that everyone could be equally close to God." the voice continued. "I like that. The geometry of belief."
Wanda only focused on the talking for a little while before she tried to see this person's thoughts. She couldn't. If this was the being from her vision, she was surprised. She could see a metal arm peeking from the cloak. Either this was a robot or a cyborg.
"You're wondering why you can't look inside my head." the metal man stated.
"Sometimes its hard." she fired back. Wanda didn't take kindly to being underestimated. Her life had been full of people who underestimated her—the poor orphan girl who lost her parents. "But sooner or later, every man shows himself."
"Oh, I'm sure they do." the metal man said, rising from the seat and pulling off the cloak. What was beneath it was amazing. It was a metallic robot, built in a humanoid shape that was now inching closer to the twins.
"But you needed something more than a man." the being stated coming closer to them. "That's why you let Stark take the sceptre."
"I didn't expect… but I saw Stark's fear." she told the robot. "I knew it would control him. Make him self-destruct."
The robot paced, walking away from them. "Everyone creates the thing they dread." it stated. "Men of peace create engines of war. Invaders create Avengers. People create smaller people…" the robot told them turning back.
"Uh… children." the robot chuckled. "I lost the word, there. Children, designed to supplant them, to help them end."
"Is that why you've come? To end the Avengers?" Wanda asked. She could see hope from this machine that Stark had created. It would be the start of their revenge.
"I've come to save the world. But also… yeah." the robot said.
An hour later, they were back in the fortress, being led by Ultron to the cavern of horrors. She found it deeply changed, no longer filled with alien artifacts, but of robots, all seemingly like Ultron.
"We'll move out right away." Ultron told them. "This is a start, but there's something else we need to begin the real work."
"All of these are…" Wanda trailed off following the robot into the cave.
"Me." Ultron replied. "I have what the Avengers never will. Harmony. They're discordant. Disconnected. Stark's already got them turning on each other. And when you get inside he rest of their heads—"
"Everyone's plan is not to kill them." Pietro interrupted.
"And make them martyrs?" Ultron asked hovering closer to her brother. "You need patience. Need to see the bigger picture."
"I don't see the big picture." Pietro told the robot as it landed in front of them. "I have a little picture. I take it out and look at it, every day."
"You lost your parents in the bombings. I've seen the records." Ultron told her brother.
"The records are not the picture." Pietro fired back.
"Pietro." she warned. She didn't want him to create discord amongst them. They were so close to their goal.
"No, please." Ultron told them.
Pietro gave her a look before turning back to the robot. "We were ten years old. Having dinner, the four of us." Pietro recounted. "When the first shell hits, two floors below, it makes a hole in the floor. It's big."
Pietro shook his head as he relived the day they lost their souls. "Our parents go in and the whole building starts coming apart. I grab her, roll under the bed, and the second shell hits. But, it doesn't go off. It just sits there in the rubble. Three feet from our faces."
Pietro smiled cynically as he remembered their pain. "And on the side of the shell, is painted one word…"
"Stark." she interrupted.
"We were trapped for two days." her brother told the robot.
"Every effort to save us, every shift in the bricks, I think 'This will set it off'. We wait for two days for Tony Stark to kill us." she finished.
"I know what they are." Pietro told Ultron.
There was a moment of silence between the three of them. "I wondered why you two were the only ones who survived Strucker's experiments." Ultron told them. "Now I don't. We will make it right."
The robot walked closer to Wanda, while addressing her brother. "You and I can hurt them." Ultron told Pietro. "But you will tear them apart, from the inside." the robot finished, addressing Wanda.
Hours later, they were heading to a plateau near the coast of South Africa. They had just seen Ultron end the vile scum that was Strucker at the NATO Detention Facility and were now heading to East Coast of South Africa to find a metal called vibranium.
Ultron had sent both she and her brother out to meet Klaue first. She was moving quietly through he beached boat that the black market arms dealer used as a headquarters. Pietro was about to go into Klaue's office when she saw the arms dealer pull out a handgun and shoot toward her brother.
She was about to cry out to warn him, but Pietro had already sped away, pulling the bullet from the air and placing it on the Klaue's desk.
"Yeah. The Enhanced." the arms dealer commented. "Strucker's prize pupils. Want a candy? Hmm?" the man told them, waving a bowl of candy around.
"I was sorry to hear about Strucker. But then, he knew what kind of world he was helping create." the arms dealer told them. "Human life. Not a growth market."
Pietro looked at her and she stared back at her brother. Growth market? Strucker wanted to sell them?
"You didn't know?" the arms dealer questioned. "Is this your first time intimidating someone? I'm afraid I'm not that afraid."
"Everybody is afraid of something." Wanda told the man approaching him.
"Cuttlefish." Klaue deadpanned. "Deep sea fish. They make lights, disco lights…" the arms dealer told them imitating a cuttlefish. "To hypnotize their prey and then, whoop!" the man exclaimed, with hand gestures. "I saw a documentary. It was terrifying."
This was just plain stupid. Did this man think that they were morons? Her brother did seem to care about this man's monologue because he simply dashed to the man's desk and grabbed a candy, popping it in his mouth.
"So if you're going to fiddle with my brain and make me see a giant cuttlefish, then I know you don't do business." the man told her. "And I know you're not in charge. And I only deal with the man in charge."
Wanda was very happy when Ultron flew up to the window next to the arms dealer and pulled him right through. That man was getting on her nerves, with his endless prattling about deep sea life.
Moments later, Klaue led Ultron and them to his stash of vibranium. From what she could see, there were tons upon tons of it. Some of the world's rarest and most valuable metal, sitting unused in a beached freighter off the coast of South Africa. A waste.
"Upon this rock, I will build my church." Ultron told the arms dealer. "Vibranium." the robot said, tossing an ingot to Pietro.
"You know, it came at great personal cost." the arms dealer told Ultron. "It's worth billions."
Ultron simply chuckled. "Now, so are you." the robot told Klaue. "It's all under your dummy holdings. Finance is so weird."
While the arms dealer looked at his phone to see his new wealth, Ultron continued to speak. "But I always say: Keep your friends rich and your enemies rich and wait to find out which is which."
Klaue slowly turned to Ultron. "Stark." the man stated.
"What?" questioned the robot.
"Tony Stark used to say that. To me." the man elaborated. "You're one of his."
Ultron's metallic face changed in expression. He reached out and grasped Klaue's arm. "What? I'm not… You think I'm one of Stark's puppets? His hollow men?" Ultron asked agitated.
Wanda used her powers to stop Klaue's bodyguard from pulling out his weapon. "I mean, look at me. Do I look like Iron Man?" Ultron asked angrily.
"Stark is nothing!" the robot said, using his other arm to slice off Klaue's arm. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Oh… I'm sure that's gonna be okay. I'm sorry."
"It's just that I don't understand." Ultron said. "Don't compare me with Stark!" the robot growled before kicking the wounded man down a flight of stairs. "It's a thing with me. Stark is… He's a sickness!"
Suddenly, another voice echoed in the boat. "Ah, Junior." Iron Man said landing on a walkway across from them. "You're gonna break your old man's heart."
"If I have to." Ultron fired back, turning to face Captain America, Iron Man and Thor.
"Nobody has to break anything." Thor told Ultron.
"Clearly, you've never made an omelet." the robot replied.
"He beat me by one second." Stark told his team. Seeing the man was bringing back bad memories and it seemed that Pietro was thinking the same thing.
"Ah, this is funny." Pietro said. "Mr. Stark. It's what? Comfortable? Like old times?" her brother added glancing to the weapons that lay in the boat.
"This was never my life." Stark told Pietro.
"You two can still walk away from this." Captain America told her.
"Oh, we will." Wanda promised.
"I know you've suffered—" the Captain tried to tell her.
"Ah!" Ultron interrupted. "Captain America. God's righteous man. Pretending you could live without a war." the robot told the Avenger. "I can't physically throw up in my mouth, but—"
"If you believe in peace, then let us keep it." Thor interrupted.
"I think you're confusing peace with quiet." Ultron replied. By now, Wanda knew what she would have to do. A fight would break out, and she needed to do as much damage as possible.
"Uh-huh. What's the vibranium for?" Stark asked.
"I'm glad you asked that, because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan." Ultron said calmly before using his tractor-beam to pull Iron Man to him and blasted him with energy rays.
The two were now fighting in the air and the Ultron Sentries were now engaging the Avengers. Captain America was rushing toward her in a tackle when she blasted him with an energy pulse, slamming him into a wall.
She went through corridors, trying to find the best Avenger to attack. She needed to be sure of which one to manipulate. She could then create a chain reaction of fear through their ranks and cripple them.
Thor came out of one of the halls and she immediately approached him with her arms raised. Wanda channeled her energy into warping Thor's mind and concentrated on bringing out his fears. Just as quickly as she came, Wanda disappeared, looking for her next target.
She went down a flight of stairs to see Pietro tackle Captain America to the ground. Immediately, she crouched down and sent a wave of fear through his mind before climbing back up the stairs to incapacitate more Avengers. This was easier than she thought.
The next Avenger she found was Black Widow. This woman was deeply troubled and it wasn't hard to make her catatonic with fear. Wanda caught glimpses of being abused and enslaved as a child in service to the Soviet Union. This one Avenger, Wanda didn't feel so right hurting. Like her, the Black Widow was an orphan—someone who was taken and made into something different by fate.
Wanda didn't dwell on it. She went back to find Hawkeye. He would be the last Avenger inside the boat. She rounded a corner and spotted him. Just as she was about to send her wave of energy into his mind, he whirled around and planted a shocking arrow into her forehead.
Her vision went fuzzy as electricity coursed through her veins. Her vision went black, but she knew that she was still upright and awake. Fear began to take hold. She was blind. What if this blindness wasn't temporary? Blinding pain interrupted her thoughts as she was electrocuted.
"I've done the whole mind control thing." she heard the archer say. "Not a fan."
Within seconds, Pietro came to get her and she felt him pull out the arrow from her forehead. Her vision was still black, but she could feel him carrying her to safety. As they were escaping, her vision slowly came back, to her elation. Her brother deposited her outside and checked on her.
"What can I do?" her brother asked her.
"It hurts." she groaned out.
"I'm going to kill him." her twin seethed. "I'll be right back."
"No!" she exclaimed, reaching out for him. "I'm alright." she panted. "I want to finish the plan. I want the big one."
Moments later, Pietro deposited her near Dr. Banner and she sent a large pulse of energy to him. She could see the man's resolve breaking and the Hulk began to be unleashed. Pietro quickly carried her from Banner's vicinity and took her to the jet which would take them to Ultron.
Percy Jackson
It had only taken half an hour to teach the recruits not to underestimate him. Sure, he was about their age and some of them were even older than him, but none of them had his skill level or experience. One of them had been stupid enough to try the whole alpha male routine and challenged him to a spar. The winner was easily determined and the loser needed to be sent to the infirmary with a fractured wrist.
He hadn't done that on purpose, but the guy was struggling against him when Percy held him in a hold and almost elbowed Percy in the face. So his reflexes kicked in and the guy's wrist ended up fractured. That had been a few days ago. The Helicarrier was now prepping for launch and Fury had ordered that the carrier be moved to the Atlantic, so that it was within a few hour's flight to major cities such as New York, Paris and London.
Percy was happy to leave the Theta Protocol Facility. Living in a ship that was enclosed in a cave had been one of the most boring experiences of his life. Actually being outside of that hangar was going to be great. Percy was now standing with Nick Fury on the flight deck, waiting as the hangar doors opened.
Moments later, the doors above them opened to reveal the Rockies and the Helicarrier's four massive vertical engines whirred to life. The sound of the turbines became deafening as they accelerated on their magnetic rails and pushed the carrier from the ground. Percy looked in awe as the aircraft carrier was lifted into the sky, climbing at a steady pace until they were looking directly at mountains, and then rising past them.
At this point, the colonel had told him to either head back inside the carrier or put on an oxygen mask. Percy had ended up inside, going to the gym and teaching the class of recruits another lesson.
He had been in the gym, teaching a self-defence lesson when an agent had told him to drop everything and head to the bridge. Apparently, another agent would be assigned to train the recruits from now on. Percy was being assigned to active duty, which actually excited the demigod, because while doing nothing was relaxing, it was also troubling because all he thought about was how Coulson was handling everything or how his little sister was doing.
"Colonel Fury." Percy greeted as he walked to the man.
"Agent Jackson, good, you're here." the colonel replied. "Do you know how to pilot at quinjet?"
"Yes, sir." Percy answered.
"Great. You are going to fly me somewhere." Fury told him before walking out of the bridge and into the corridors which led to the hangar bay. Percy followed quickly, trying to match the colonel's brisk pace.
Once they were in the hangar bay, Fury climbed into a quinjet and Percy followed. He didn't get what was going on. What was so pressing that Fury needed to leave the Helicarrier. The ship was on its way to the mid-Atlantic in that moment.
"Do you mind telling me where I'm taking you and why?" he asked, prepping the quinjet for launch. Percy hit a switch and the rear doors closed before he hit another to send the quinjet to the flight deck. The hydraulic platform below the quinjet rose and the quinjet was soon ready for takeoff.
"You're taking me to these coordinates." Fury told him, gesturing to a set of coordinates already plugged into the navigational computer. "And you're taking me there so that I can talk to the Avengers."
"The Avengers? Why?" Percy questioned as he piloted the quinjet off the flight deck and into the air. He manoeuvred the plane to head west towards the coordinates.
"Something happened to the team." Fury told him. "There's a girl, her name is Wanda Maximoff. She's an enhanced who has power over people's minds, among other things."
"So, she's a psychic." Percy concluded. "What does that have to do with the Avengers?"
"Look, I'll give you the short version of things." the man replied. "You remember when you came in my office and I was talking to Hill?"
"Yeah." Percy told Fury.
"Well, Hill gave the Avengers the intel you gathered and they went to Sokovia to retrieve the sceptre." Fury said. "Once the sceptre was back in New York, Stark and Banner studied it and found that it's gem replicated a brain's thinking patterns. They decided to study whether they could apply the patterns to artificial intelligence—it went wrong."
"What does that mean?" Percy questioned, looking back momentarily at the colonel.
"It means that somehow, their attempts to study the sceptre created a program which worked too well." the man explained. "The program, Ultron, became sentient and began to exhibit hostile behaviour. The basics of the story are that he escaped with the sceptre by commandeering the Iron Legion and went to find the girl and her twin brother."
"The team caught on to what Ultron was trying to do and went to look for him. At the same time, the Maximoff twins helped Ultron steal a large quantity of a rare metal called vibranium and as they escaped, the girl used her powers on the Avengers. Once she got to Banner, she made him turn into the Hulk and attack Johannesburg." Fury continued.
"They're underground." Percy concluded. It would be the smart play to not face the public after causing so much mayhem.
"Yes, they are." Fury told him. "Hill informed me that they are heading to Iowa. Which is why you're taking me to Iowa."
Percy stayed silent for a moment trying to process what he just heard. Sure, it was probably on par with the godly crap that he had needed to deal with before, but it was still hard to imagine a sentient robot terminator being out there. "When Coulson said that S.H.I.E.L.D. dealt with the weird, I didn't imagine the terminator being a part of that." Percy told the man. In his peripheral vision, Percy saw Fury show a hint of a smile at his statement.
A few hours later, they were landing in a field in Iowa. It was late in the day, but still not nighttime. Percy hit the switch to open the rear door and Fury walked out immediately. He followed after making sure that he had no identifiable S.H.I.E.L.D. equipment on him and shutting down the quinjet, closing the rear ramp behind him.
In the distance, Percy could see a cozy-looking farm. It was the perfect picture of the American breadbasket, with its quaint two story home and large barn. Percy looked around and found another plane nearby. He recognized the logo emblazoned on it immediately. The Avengers were here.
Fury opened a small door at the rear of the barn and went inside. Percy followed the colonel inside and saw a barn crowded with many things inside. Everything from a tractor, to bales of hay, to heavy machinery used for renovations.
Percy saw the colonel pull out a phone and dial a number. The man picked up a few trinkets from the work table on the side of the barn while he waited for his phone call to be answered.
"Hello, Laura." Fury greeted, to presumably a woman named Laura. "How are the kids?"
Fury's facial expression changed when he was talking about Laura's children. The man was usually stoic and did not show any emotion, but Percy could see him wearing a small smile on his face as he talked with the woman.
"Yes, I need to talk to them." Fury spoke. "Well, more urgently, I need to talk to Stark."
Fury nodded as he spoke with the woman. "Well, you don't have to come far to find me, I'm standing in your barn." the colonel said on the phone.
"Thank you, Laura." Fury said after a moment. Percy hadn't heard what Laura and Fury were talking about in its entirety, but based on what he heard, Percy knew that apparently, Fury and he were trespassing on Laura's property.
"Wait for me back there." the colonel instructed, pointing to a section of the barn which was hidden from the front of the structure. "Stark has some issues about S.H.I.E.L.D. agents."
Percy did as the man asked and went to a secluded corner of the barn. Surprisingly, Fury followed after him and before Percy could ask why, the front door of the barn swung open. He could hear a person, a man given the loud footsteps, walk inside the barn.
"Hello, Deere." Iron Main said aloud. Percy remembered seeing the John Deere tractor and had to admit that Stark made a good pun. He could hear the billionaire fiddle with the tractor at the front of the barn. "Tell me everything. What ails you?" Stark said.
The colonel walked past Percy into the main part of the barn. "Do me a favour." Fury started, causing Stark to drop what he was doing. "Try not to bring it to life."
"Why. Ms. Barton, you little minx." the billionaire sighed. "I get it, Maria Hill called you, right?" Stark paused. "Was she ever not working for you?"
"Artificial intelligence." Fury interrupted. "You never even hesitated." the director stated walking closer to the tractor.
"Look, it's been a really long day—like Eugene O'Neill long—so how's about we skip to the part where you're useful." Tony Stark told the colonel.
"Look me in the eye and tell me you're going to shut him down." the colonel told Stark. From his vantage point, he could see Fury's hard expression as he talked about Ultron.
"You're not the director of me." Iron Man fired back. Percy saw the colonel simply sigh and turn back from Tony Stark and take a seat on a bale of hay.
"I'm not the director of anybody." Fury said. "I'm just an old man, who cares very much about you."
Percy heard the billionaire scoff. "And I'm the man who killed the Avengers. I saw it. I didn't tell the team." Stark confided. "How could I? I saw them all dead, Nick. I felt it… The whole world, too… Because of me."
Stark backed away from Fury. "I wasn't ready. I didn't do all I could." Iron Man told the colonel. Percy felt slightly uncomfortable at spying on such a vulnerable moment for the billionaire. The man was literally baring his soul, blaming himself for Ultron's crimes and it just felt wrong for him to spy on that.
"The Maximoff girl," Fury started. "She's working you, Stark. Playing on your fear." the colonel informed the man.
"No, no, no." Stark protested, turning back to Fury. "I wasn't tricked, I was shown. It wasn't a nightmare, it was my legacy." the billionaire said, gesturing to himself. "The end of the path I started us on."
"You've come up with some pretty impressive inventions, Tony." Fury said as he rose from the bale of hay. "War isn't one of them."
"I watched my friends die." Tony said. "You'd think that'd be as bad as it gets, right?" the billionaire asked. "Nope." the man scoffed. "It wasn't the worst part."
Fury nodded in Percy's direction and he took that as the signal to come into view. Percy walked silently into the centre aisle of the barn. "The worst part is that you didn't." Percy said as he came closer to the two.
Stark immediately snapped his head toward Percy and he could see the billionaire tense as he saw Percy. In the man's defence, Percy was wearing his usual uniform which consisted of his tactical suit, a handgun strapped to his thigh and the sword Fitz made was strapped to his back. Not exactly something you wore to meet the neighbours.
Everyone was silent as Tony Stark evaluated Percy. "Who's this? G.I. Joe Jr.?" the billionaire scoffed.
"No, this is Percy Jackson." the colonel introduced. "He worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. as a specialist before D.C. I asked for his help." Fury lied.
"You don't ask for anything." Iron Man stated. "So what, he's the guy you call to have things done off book? Your fixer of sorts." the billionaire taunted.
Fury simply shook his head. "You know, this paranoia has got to stop." the colonel advised. "Agent Jackson has taken time out of his life to help the Avengers—something that he isn't required to do anymore now that S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't exist. So please, Stark, just work with me here."
"Fine." the billionaire spat. "I shouldn't be surprised though. You lost Barton and Romanoff, so it shouldn't surprise me that you have a new trained puppy to do your bidding."
Fury sighed in response while Percy tried not to show any emotion at Stark's taunts. He needed to calm himself, lest he cause damage to the farm due to his anger. "Let's go. I talked to Laura. She's making dinner right now." Fury told the man.
This was how Percy ended up knocking on the door of Laura's home, dressed in tactical gear. The door swung open and Percy was met by a little girl who looks up at him with big eyes.
"Daddy!" she yelled when she saw him. "Someone's at the door!"
Seconds later, Clint Barton was in front of Percy, fixating a cold glare on him. Percy already knew about Clint Barton—he was famous inside S.H.I.E.L.D. along with Natasha Romanoff. They were part of a trio of Fury's best— Agents Romanoff, Barton and Coulson. So, it was awkward to have someone like that shooting daggers at him while he stood on the front porch.
This immediately changed when he saw Nick Fury behind Percy. "Son of a bitch." the archer cursed under his breath so that the little girl wouldn't hear. "He one of yours?" Barton asked Fury pointing to Percy. Percy turned back to see the colonel nod and Barton stepped aside and gestured for Percy to enter.
He stepped through the door and was met by a picturesque home, dated, but warm and cozy. He walked into the living room so that the others could get inside and Percy found himself staring at toys littering the floor and two children, a boy and girl fighting.
"Cooper, Lisa, you'd better not be fighting." a woman called out from the kitchen. The woman turned from place in the kitchen and froze as she saw Percy. The woman, who Percy now saw was pregnant, just stood in her spot, tense, before relaxing when Barton walked past him.
A few hushed words were uttered between the two and the woman turned back with a much softer expression on her face. "Hi there." the woman greeted. "I'm Laura Barton. Welcome to my home."
"I'm Percy Jackson." he said. "I hope that I'm not imposing."
"Not at all." the woman smiled. "We barely get company anyway. Come on, let's get you out of your gear." She walked down a hallway, turning into a room and Percy walked quickly to catch up to her.
"You can put your gear in here. The kids don't come in here, so it'll be fine." Laura told him.
Percy nodded and took off the tactical vest, leaving him in black combat pants and a black t-shirt. Laura held out her hand and Percy handed the vest to her, making sure to pull the sword for its sheath on the back. He also unstrapped the Glock 19's holster from his thigh and handed both weapons to her after making sure the gun's safety was on and there were no rounds in the chamber. It wasn't safe to carry his weapons around this house given there were kids here.
"Thanks." he told the woman. As he turned to leave and go back to the others, she stopped him.
"So, what made you join?" Laura asked.
"Excuse me, Ms. Barton?" he asked her, confused.
"Join S.H.I.E.L.D." the woman clarified. "You don't look that old—you're in your early twenties at most. So what made you join?"
Percy stared at the woman for a second. She was very perceptive and was also not afraid to ask questions to strangers who showed up to her home.
"Myself." he admitted. "I'm not exactly normal—I'm what S.H.I.E.L.D. calls enhanced. I tend to bring attention to myself because of my powers and it wasn't the best time for me to stick around my family." Percy revealed. "When S.H.I.E.L.D. found me, they gave me a deal, come with S.H.I.E.L.D. to work on controlling my powers and in exchange, they make sure my family is safe and happy."
"How's that working out?" she asked him.
"Pretty well." he replied. "After some time there, I was asked to join S.H.I.E.L.D. and I agreed. It's been pretty great—you know, except the whole Hydra thing and kinda losing my job." Percy said, remembering the lie that Fury told Stark.
"When was this?" Laura asked him. "You don't look that old. You look like you should be in college."
"Two years ago." Percy lied. "And you're right about my age, I'm eighteen."
"God…" the woman sighed. "You were a minor."
"Yes." he lied. "But, it was the best thing that could have happened to me. Besides, I work for the FBI now, so its not that bad."
Laura was silent for a while, probably digesting the story that Percy told her—it was part lie, part truth, but she didn't know that. "Call me Laura." she told him leading him back to the others after locking the door behind them.
When Percy got back to the living room, he found Fury sitting on the couch with the little girl, Lisa, sitting in his lap. The image of Nick Fury with a child in his lap made Percy smirk—the tough-as-nails colonel, now at the mercy of a child.
A few minutes later, Lila had gotten bored and climbed off of Fury and went to draw with crayons. Percy went to the living room while Laura went back to the kitchen. He sat across from Fury when Stark came back and this time, Captain America was with him. Both of them were talking in hushed tones as they entered the living room.
Things didn't get any better from there. Barton had come back, this time with Romanoff and Banner. The Avengers, minus Thor, gathered around Percy and Fury, all of them with expressions of confusion and frustration on their faces.
"Kids, how about you go outside and enjoy the sunlight before it gets dark?" Barton suggested.
His kids picked up some of their toys and went dutifully outside to play. Once the front door was shut, everything went to hell.
"What the hell, Fury!" exclaimed the captain. "You brought a kid into this?!"
"He looks like a college kid." Banner told Fury. "I'm not going to be part of this."
Fury simply stayed quiet as the Avengers all tried to get their opinions heard. Percy on the other hand just wanted them all to shut up. This lie was getting out of hand, but he couldn't exactly just tell the truth about S.H.I.E.L.D.'s existence, or that Phil had been revived.
"Shut up!" he yelled. "All of you, be quiet for one freaking minute! And for the record, I am an adult."
The Avengers immediately went quiet. It wasn't his shouting that made them shut up though. In his frustration, Percy had called water from the sink and had created a wall of mist around the room. Once he noticed that, he immediately concentrated and the mist evaporated.
There was silence in the room. In the corner of his vision, Percy could see Laura tense. The tense silence was only broken when Tony Stark had decided to speak.
"You're an enhanced…" the billionaire said in amazement.
"Yes." Percy answered in a clipped tone.
"He's also the man who has been gathering intel for you all to use." Fury told the Avengers. "So how about we all calm down and talk this through?"
"Intel?" Romanoff asked.
"Yes, intel." Fury confirmed. "Percy here was the one who found the intel about the sceptre."
"That intel would be in Hydra's files." the Black Widow said. "He would need to have gone in to collect the intel."
"I did." Percy answered. "I found that intel in London while on an assignment there."
"What the hell does that mean?" asked Stark.
"It means that he made your lives easier." the colonel answered. "That's not what I'm here to discuss though."
"I don't care what you want to discuss right now." the captain said. "What I want to know is why a college-aged kid is doing with you. Especially an enhanced college-aged kid."
"You're going to have to spill, boss." Romanoff warned.
The colonel sighed in defeat. Before the man had the chance to start inventing him a story, Percy chose to interrupt.
"In case none of you heard, this 'kid' is capable of completing missions, so at least acknowledge the fact that I'm here." he told them. "And as for my story, S.H.I.E.L.D. recruited me two years ago. I worked as a Level 8 Specialist, reporting directly for the director."
"Level 8!?" Barton exclaimed. "He cannot be Level 8."
"Barton, you and I both know that Clearance Levels are determined by performance, not by anything else." Fury told the archer. "And since he was classified Level 8, none of you were cleared to know about him—not that you could, given he didn't exist in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s records."
The Avengers were silent. Percy would guess that they were all just processing what they had heard. Sure, the real story was much better put together and made more sense, but its not like it wasn't messed up. In fact, the real story would be more messed up than the one the Avengers had just heard—gods, monsters, demigods… it was best that they just thought that S.H.I.E.L.D. just did something immoral and hired a teen.
"Fury, you decided to hire a sixteen-year-old to work for S.H.I.E.L.D. two years ago. That's not something that sane people do." Stark told the colonel.
"It's immoral. It's wrong." Rogers added.
"Shut up, all of you!" Percy snapped. "You're all acting like you haven't done any wrong before. Stark, you created the terminator and Rogers, I've heard all about the S.S.R. missions. So, let's not dwell on my job and deal with what we need to deal with—Ultron."
Quiet followed his outburst. He didn't understand this team at all—they weren't the cohesive unit they appeared. They were bickering and falling over each other throwing accusations around, definitely not something that Earth's Mightiest Heroes should be doing.
"Dinner's ready, everyone." Laura announced, breaking the tense silence.
"We'll discuss this after dinner—once the kids go back to playing." Barton said.
Everyone stayed rooted in their places for a moment, as if trying to determine whether to listen to the archer's words before going to the dinner table. Everyone sat around the long table and started setting the table. Percy grabbed the plates and set them out, before sitting down on one of the seats. Someone must have gone out to tell the Barton children that dinner was ready because Lila and Cooper rushed in and sat down in two seats on Percy's left.
Barton helped his pregnant wife into a chair before going back to kitchen and returning with dinner. The archer went back and forth between the kitchen countertops and the dining table, setting down a smorgasbord of dishes. Laura had clearly been adept at cooking, like his mother, since Percy could see various dishes, including spice-rubbed pork tenderloin, scalloped potatoes and green beans.
They all ate in tense silence throughout the dinner. Other than small talk, there was silence. Occasionally, either Lila or Cooper would do something that made Percy and Natasha clean up the children. Percy and Natasha, who sat on either side of the two little children paid attention to the messes that they made and wiped them clean using a napkin.
Once the tense meal was over, Laura brought out a cherry crumble pie and gave everyone a slice. Like the rest of the dinner, it was delicious, sprinkled with sliced, grilled almonds. The real hard part of the night came after dinner, when both Lila and Cooper went to play in the living room.
Laura took their plates away and put them in the dishwasher. Once that was done, she went to the living room and sat down on the couch, watching her kids draw with crayons. The captain had decided to stand, as had Stark and Banner, leaving Romanoff sitting down at the table and Fury behind the kitchen counter. Barton was near the sink where he was sipping from a beer bottle. Percy himself had decided to stay seated at the table because if he had to deal with the Avengers and their problems, it was best to be comfortable.
"Are you all ready to listen now?" Fury asked.
There was no answer. "Alright," Fury said. "I'll just talk then. You all know that the before the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D., I was a different person. My priorities were different."
The colonel went from his spot behind the counter and picked up a cookie that Laura had made—turns out, the woman stress-cooked.
"I tried my best to protect the world using the skills that I had learned from the CIA and the military." Fury continued. "I know that I made mistakes, costly mistakes, which led to the deaths of many agents. I know that I don't have a great moral compass, trust me, I know. So let me tell you that I have changed, but I can't change the past—my past."
There was more silence. When it finally broke, Percy was surprised that it was the Black Widow who spoke. "Alright." she said. "I get it. People change. I accept that the Nick from two years ago was someone more concerned with preventing the world from knowing about people with powers than helping them."
The spy turned toward her team. "So let's all be okay with that." she told them. "We all knew that he didn't have great moral judgement, so Agent Jackson shouldn't be a surprise." There was no response from her team but Percy could saw that their resolve was cracking. All of them were guilty of lapses in moral judgement, no matter how much they didn't like admitting it.
"Fine." Rogers sighed. "I'm not okay with this, putting teenagers to work for S.H.I.E.L.D., but what's done is done. Why exactly did you fly all the way out of here?"
"I came here to see how you were doing. I also came to make sure that you all had some kind of plan to deal with the terminator." Fury told them. "Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself time. My contacts all say he's building something. The amount of vibranium he made off with, I don't think its just for one thing."
"What about Ultron himself?" Rogers asked.
"Oh, he's easy to track." Fury replied. "He's everywhere. The guy's multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit. It still doesn't help us get an angle on any of his plans, though."
"Is he still going after launch codes?" Stark asked, throwing a dart at the board on the wall.
"Yes, he is." the colonel told the engineer. "But he's not making any headway."
The billionaire turned to Fury. "I cracked the Pentagon's firewall in high school on a dare." Stark told them.
"Well, I contacted our friends at the Nexus about that." the colonel informed the billionaire.
"Nexus?" Rogers asked.
"It's the world Internet hub in Oslo." Dr. Banner explained. "Every byte of data flows through there. Fastest access on Earth."
"So, what did they say?" Barton asked picking up a throwing dart.
"He's fixated on the missiles." Nick told them. "But the codes are constantly being changed."
"By whom?" Stark asked flinching as Barton threw a dart that flew inches from his face.
"Parties unknown." Fury answered.
"Do we have an ally?" Romanoff asked from across Percy.
"Ultron's got an enemy." Fury told her. "That's not the same thing. Still, I'd pay folding money to know who it is."
"I might need to visit Oslo. Find our unknown." Stark said.
"Well, this is good times, boss, but I was kind of hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than that." Romanoff told Fury.
"I do." Fury told her. "I have you. Back in the day, I had eyes everywhere. Ears, everywhere else. You kids had all the tech you could dream up. Here we all are, back on Earth, with nothing but our wit and our will to save the world."
"Ultron says the Avengers are the only thing between him and his mission." the colonel continued. "And whether or not he admits it, his mission is global destruction. All this, laid in a grave."
"So stand. Outwit the platinum bastard." Fury told the Avengers.
"Steve doesn't like that kind of talk." Romanoff teased, breaking the tension.
"You know what, Romanoff?" Steve said.
"So, what does he want?" Fury asked.
"To become better." Rogers answered. "Better than us. He keeps building bodies."
"Person bodies." Stark added. "The human form in inefficient. Biologically speaking, we're outmoded. But he keeps coming back to it."
Banner went up to the dinner table, standing next to Romanoff and looking at the picture that Lila had drawn of a butterfly. The little girl had offered it to her Auntie Nat as a present.
"When you two programmed him to protect the human race, you amazingly failed." Romanoff told Banner and Stark.
"They don't need to be protected. They need to evolve. Just look at Agent Jackson—he's biologically human, at least human looking, but he has powers we could only dream of. His body evolved from the basic human form to one more advanced." Banner said.
Everyone gazed at Banner before shifting their eyes to Percy. "Ultron's going to evolve." the doctor concluded.
"How?" Percy asked. This was getting out of hand, with robots who not only wanted world domination and destruction, but now with evolution. It seemed like all of the things from movies about robots were coming true—something which would be outrageous if it was impossible. But Percy knew that it was very possible that this platinum bastard could win.
"Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?" Banner asked.
"Who's Helen Cho?" Percy asked, confused.
"Helen's a geneticist. One of the best in the world." Stark answered. "She's probably the only one who could figure out how to print Ultron a body."
"Is that even possible?" Romanoff asked. "I know that her work with the Regeneration Cradle is advanced, but could Helen actually make a living body?"
"I don't know. Maybe." Banner said. "What matters is that we get back out there. We already gave Ultron a head start."
"Alright everyone, suit up." Stark said.
Fifteen minutes later, everyone was kitted out in their respective suits. They all gathered their things and waited for their orders. Percy had been following Fury around, waiting for some order to follow. In the hallway, he heard as Stark and Rogers talked about the mission.
"I'll take Natasha and Clint." Rogers said, picking up his shield.
"Alright. Strictly recon." Stark told the captain. "I'll hit the Nexus. I'll join you as soon as I can."
"If Ultron's really building a body…" the captain trailed off.
"It'll be more powerful than any of us." the engineer told his teammate. "Maybe all of us. An android designed by a robot."
"You know, I really miss the days when the weirdest thing that science ever create was me." Percy heard Rogers say.
He immediately followed as Fury moved toward where Stark and Rogers were talking. The colonel was putting on his coat and getting ready to get back to the quinjet.
"We'll drop Banner off at the tower." Fury told the two Avengers. "You mind if I borrow Ms. Hill?"
"She's all yours." Stark said. "Apparently."
"What are you gonna do?" the captain asked.
"I don't know. Something dramatic, I hope." the colonel told them before walking out the door. Percy followed and saw Dr. Banner walking quickly to match Fury's fast pace. It seemed that he would be flying Banner and Fury to New York.
Wanda Maximoff
Wanda had successfully done her job in Johannesburg and was now in Seoul at the headquarters of U-GIN Genetics, a company that Ultron had seized control of from Helen Cho. The doctor had been exposed to the sceptre's power and she had become compliant with Ultron's commands.
On her way in, Wanda had almost wished that nothing had been going on. The lab was a modern set of buildings, built on artificial islands on the Han River. If she had been a tourist, she would have been enjoying the scenery with the genetics laboratory being built next to a large park, which had been planted with trees created by the lab.
She went into the lab's main research room where the Regeneration Cradle, a steel box with he ability to heal wounds had been retrofitted to create Ultron a living body. The case slid open with a whir and revealed a red body which was still being printed by the case.
"It's beautiful." Dr. Cho commented as she saw the body. "The vibranium atoms aren't just compatible with the tissue cells, they're binding them."
The geneticist went from her position standing in front of a monitor and walked up to the cradle's interface. "And S.H.I.E.L.D. even thought to—" she said before being interrupted.
"The most versatile substance on the planet, and they use it to make a frisbee." Ultron lamented. "Typical of humans. They scratch the surface and never think to look within."
One of the Ultron Sentries started a laser and watched it break through the sceptre's gem, revealing a small, orange stone. Ultron picked it up and placed it on the forehead of the body.
Dr. Cho pressed a few keys on the cradle's interface and the cradle shut once more. She plugged in wire after wire into the back of the cradle and fiddled with the controls. Ultron sat himself down near the cradle and waited as Dr. Cho attached the cables to the back of his head.
"Cellular cohesion will take a few hours, but we can initiate the consciousness stream." the geneticist told the robot, going back to the cradle and inputting a few commands. "We're uploading your cerebral matrix, now."
Suddenly, Wanda could feel the presence of another being nearby—a living being. She could feel the energy strumming through the android's body and could feel his mind start to work.
"I can read him." she told the geneticist. "He's dreaming."
"I wouldn't call it dreams." the scientist told her. "It's Ultron's base consciousness. Informational noise. Soon—"
"How soon?" the robot asked. "I'm not being pushy."
"We're imprinting a physical brain. There are no shortcuts. Even if your magic gem helps things along." the geneticist chastised.
Wanda wasn't paying attention though. She had instead decided to try and read Ultron. The robot's android body was living and had a brain and could think independently of wires and programming code. She reached out and placed her hands on the cradle, concentrating on breaking past Ultron's mind.
She felt pain. Extreme pain. The pain of a million souls dying at once. All light snuffed out from the world. Then, she saw it—the destruction of the earth. One large blast from space, eradicating life itself. "Ahh!" she screamed. It was too much at once—her mind was being bombarded by the anguished screams of the dead.
She quickly backed away from the cradle and her twin ran to her and comforted her. She felt her brother's arms wrap around her, trying to soothe her. She panted as she tried to get her heart rate under control.
"How could you?" she asked the machine.
"How could I what?" the robot replied.
"You said we would destroy the Avengers, make a better world." she told the metal man.
This destruction would be the result of her and Pietro's actions. They had helped a mad man gain almost unlimited power and a physical body from which Ultron could wreak havoc on the world. They were no better than Tony Stark who sold weapons to the militias of Sokovia. Their actions would be even worse than Stark's—while the billionaire's weapons claimed the lives of hundreds in Novi Grad, her actions would help the robot claim millions, if not billions.
"It will be better." the robot assured.
"When everyone is dead?" she asked. She had let this machine tempt her into doing the wrong thing and now, she felt the death of millions on her conscience. This was going way past getting their revenge on Stark—it went past getting justice for their parents. She and Pietro had helped this monster achieve the power to destroy humanity.
"This is not—The human race will have every opportunity to improve." Ultron tried to explain.
"And if they don't?" her brother asked.
"Ask Noah." the machine replied.
"You're a madman." Wanda said. She couldn't believe that this machine wanted to destroy humanity itself. To make sure that all the peoples of the earth, every one of them different and unique from the other, would be gone.
"There were more than a dozen extinction-level events before even the dinosaurs got theirs." Ultron justified. "When the Earth starts to settle, God throws a stone at it. And believe me, he's winding up."
The machine came closer to the cradle. "We have to evolve. There is no room for the weak."
She couldn't take this anymore. She concentrated on her powers and sent a pulse of energy to Dr. Cho. The geneticist was the only person who had the knowledge and skills to stop Ultron from being given a new body. She saw as the scientist took in a deep breath and the blue in her eyes dissolved and went back to their normal warm brown.
"And who decides who's weak?" she heard Pietro ask the robot.
"Life." the machine chuckled. "Life always decides."
"There's incoming." the robot said. "The quinjet. We have to move."
Pietro came to her and hugged her close to him. He placed a gentle hand on her back and rubbed. Her brother was the only other person attuned to her so well. Strucker's experiments had not only given them powers beyond the norm but had also strengthened their connection together. Pietro could feel her emotions, just like she could feel his.
"That's not a problem." Dr. Cho said, using the interface to stop Ultron's upload.
The robot groaned dramatically and shot a beam of energy at Dr. Cho's right shoulder. Outside, she could see the Ultron Sentries fire their own weapons at the lab technicians.
Pietro picked her up before she could even blink and sped out of the lab and into Seoul. Everything was a blur as her brother ran and soon, they stopped in one of Seoul's metal working districts.
"Why did you do that?!" she yelled at her brother. The people in the lab were innocents in all of this. They might have helped the Avengers, but they were researchers trying to eliminate the need for medicine. They were trying to save lives.
"Would you rather be dead?" her brother fired back.
"Those people didn't deserve to be left there." she told him. "They weren't bad people. They don't deserve Ultron's rage."
"I don't care about them." her brother said angrily. "I care about us. I care about my sister, not the strangers at that lab."
"And I want us to be fine too, but I won't leave that madman with the power to destroy the world." she told her twin. "If he gets his wish, no-one on earth is safe from him—not even us."
Her brother paced in circles in the alley they were in. She could feel his emotions—his anguish and guilt. Her emotions were the same.
"Pietro," she said bringing his attention back to her. "We have to stop him. We can't let people die because of our rage."
It took them fifteen minutes, but they had managed to track down Ultron. Both Pietro and she couldn't understand Korean, but the screams of people didn't need to be translated. They followed the panic and pandemonium to find Ultron in a train heading for the outskirts of Seoul.
Pietro gave her a look and she braced herself for what was to come. Her brother picked her up in his arms and dashed toward the train. She really hoped that they wouldn't just smack into the side of the train and become flattened.
Luckily for her, her brother had aimed for a window and instead, they barrelled into the seats on the other side of the train. She could hear the screams of people in the forward cars. She was still trying to get up after crashing into the seats but motioned for her brother go on without her.
When she finally was able to feel her legs and get up, she saw her twin body-check the robot causing the machine to falter in his fight with Captain America. She ran forward, jumping from car to car, trying to get to the front of the train as fast a possible.
When she finally got to the front of the train, she saw the robot try to go forward to her brother. She raised her hands and concentrated on blocking his path. The shelves which held luggage twisted and the metal formed bars in front of the machine.
"Please, don't do this." the machine urged.
"What choice do we have?" she fired back. This being was trying to kill everything and everyone—something that Wanda wasn't willing to do or let happen.
The robot fired a beam of energy at her brother and bashed in the side of the train, flying to safety.
"Pietro!" she screamed. The smoke in front of her cleared and revealed her twin getting up from the floor of the train and raising his hand to stop her from rushing to him.
From where she was, she could see the end of the train tracks. They weren't slowing down. She heard the captain yell into his earpiece at his teammates. She saw as the train sped past the end of the tracks and drifted into the streets. They still weren't slowing down—the momentum from the train was being carried over and they were speeding straight down the streets of Seoul.
The captain turned to her brother and her. "There are civilians in our path. Clear them." the soldier told her brother. Pietro sped out of the hole in the side of the train and was a blur in front of them.
The Avenger looked to her. "Can you stop this thing?" the man asked.
She wasn't sure about that but gave a small nod. God, what was she thinking getting involved with Hydra, Ultron and the Avengers. She was panicking, but all around her, she could see people with tears coming from their eyes, realizing that they would be dead.
She saw a little boy clutching a stuffed bear to his chest and hug his mother. She had to try. She wouldn't let these families be torn apart like hers. The train crashed straight through a warehouse and emerged on the other side. She had to stop this train.
She concentrated and pushed her energy downwards from her hands into the wheels of the train. She poured all of her energy into stopping those wheels from turning, locking them in place and pressing them down as far as she could into the road.
Slowly, the train began to decrease its speed and was slowing down. She could hear the wheel's groan as they collided with the pavement and the train was incrementally stopping. She collapsed to her knees as the fatigue overtook her but she didn't stop pouring her power into stopping the train. Within minutes, they were stationary and people around her were quickly getting out.
She dragged herself from the train and went to the corner of the road, where she saw her brother panting, his hands on his knees trying to support himself.
"I'm fine." her twin told her. "I just need to take a minute."
"I'm very tempted not to give you one." Captain America interrupted walking up to the two.
"The cradle." Wanda said, ignoring the soldier's words. "Did you get it?"
"Stark will take care of it." the captain replied.
She couldn't believe this. They were going right back to where it started. Stark with new technology. "No, he won't." she told the captain.
"You don't know what you're talking about." the man told her. "Stark's not crazy."
"He will do anything to make things right." she said thinking back to her vision of Stark's mind.
The captain stared at her for a moment before turning away. "Stark, come in." she heard him say into his earpiece. "Stark. Anyone on comms." She assumed that there was no reply given the captain's mood.
"Ultron can't tell the difference between saving the world and destroying it." she told the soldier. "Where do you think he gets that?"
There was silence between them. The captain simply turned away and gathered his thoughts while she went to her brother and made sure he was okay. It was minutes later that the captain even bothered to turn around and come to them. She could tell that her words had an impact on him. The soldier was finally thinking about what could have happened.
"I called a friend and a quinjet is coming to pick us up." the soldier informed. "You two are officially in my custody and will be coming back to New York with me."
The man must have seen their expressions because he didn't stop talking. "If you run, I will make sure to immobilize you and have you shipped over to the states while you're asleep." the man threatened.
"Fine." she told him. They couldn't even get away. Pietro had been too exhausted to even walk. Trying to escape a super-soldier didn't seem like a good idea.
An hour later, they were being driven to Seoul Air Base, on the outskirts of the city, by police officers. There was quite a mess for the authorities in Seoul to clean up and they wanted them all out of the city as fast as possible.
They were let into the South Korean military base without any problems or delays and were immediately herded to a runway where a plane sat waiting for them. She could see that it was an advanced aircraft that looked similar to the Avengers quinjet.
They all exited the car and walked up to the plane. As they did so, the a ramp opened to reveal the inside of the plane. Wanda saw the silhouette of a man in the jet. From what she could tell, he was tall—around six foot one, and broad shouldered. He was wearing a dark tactical vest, with all kinds of attachments and munitions clipped to it, and matching black cargo pants and boots.
"Captain." the man greeted.
"Jackson, what the hell are you doing in Korea?" the captain asked. "I talked to Fury. He told me that he would send a plane, not you."
"Well, he told me to pick you guys up. Get in." the man ordered. "It's hard to explain why a S.H.I.E.L.D. quinjet is still in operation when S.H.I.E.L.D.'s been disbanded."
The captain went into the plane and Pietro followed behind. Wanda was the last person to go inside the quinjet and once she adjusted to the lighting in the quinjet, she could see that the man was actually about her age. He had beautiful green eyes, sun-kissed skin and short, black hair.
The man, Jackson, walked straight past her, hitting a button and closing the ramp. He went up to the controls and sat down in the pilot's chair before hitting a few buttons, starting the engines. She sat herself down quickly to avoid falling and imitated her brother's actions after having seen him strapping himself in.
In mere moments, the jet lifted off of the ground and shot toward the sky. From her seat, she could see out of the front of the plane, watching Seoul get smaller and smaller before they were above the cloud layer. She saw the man flick a few switches and hit a few buttons.
"So Captain, who do we have here?" the man asked, turning his seat to face the inside of the plane.
"This is Pietro and Wanda Maximoff." the captain said. Immediately, the man's hand snapped to his thigh, where Wanda saw a gun inside its holster.
"They are not a threat, Agent Jackson." Captain America told the man. "Stand down."
Slowly, the man's hand withdrew from the holster and went to the armrest of the chair. She could see that his face was still tense and his eyes shot daggers at her.
"It's not agent anymore, Cap." the man said. "S.H.I.E.L.D.'s gone. Percy will do."
"Alright, Percy." the captain said. "Try not to shoot either of them. I kind of need them to be living when we get back to New York."
"Of course." Percy replied.
There was silence for a while. "Where did you get the quinjet?" Captain America asked.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. may be gone, but its toys are still lying around." Percy told the captain. "You just need to know where to look."
The flight had been mostly silent from that point on. Right now, Wanda saw on one of the screens that the jet was approaching the Western United States. Agent Jackson had been completely silent for the flight, turning back to the controls after his conversation with the captain. Her twin had fallen asleep from exhaustion and the captain had decided to take a nap a few hours ago leaving just herself and the former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent awake.
She couldn't take the silence anymore, so she unstrapped herself from her seat and went over to the co-pilot's chair. Wanda sat herself down into it and turned to face the man.
"You're very quiet." she told him.
He didn't answer.
"You know, we're the only two people awake on this plane and you might as well talk to me. There's not much else to do and from what I can tell, this thing flies itself." she said.
The man turned to her. "The reason why I'm not talking to you is because of your ignorance." the man spat. "You and your brother enabled the terminator to gain the power to kill millions. Just because you wanted your revenge."
"You don't get to judge me!" she fired back. "You haven't been through what Pietro and I have."
"No, I've been through worse." he told her. "I've known someone just like you in the past. His name was Luke. He was angry too, wanted revenge. And to do it, he almost destroyed his entire family."
"You don't even know what I've been through." she told him. "Do you know what its like to see your parents get taken from you, right in front of your eyes? To feel the anguish and the pain? The anger?"
"I do." he told her. "When I was twelve, my mother was kidnapped. That's how I know how you felt. Unlike you and your brother, I didn't risk the world to get myself justice. I got my mother back, without resorting to helping a madman."
"You don't understand. You haven't lived through what I lived through." she said. "My parents were killed by Tony Stark. His bombs dropped on Novi Grad and blew a hole into our apartment. My parents died but Pietro and I survived, staring at Stark's name on the side of an unexploded shell."
Jackson was silent for a minute before speaking. "You're wrong about Stark." the man told her. "You don't know the whole story."
"What?!" she asked incredulously. "What the hell does that even mean?"
"You don't know the whole story." he repeated. "The side of the story that you know is the one you experienced. If you ask Stark about how his weapons made their way to Sokovia, he'll tell you."
"He's the Merchant of Death." she said quietly after a long while.
"So was Alfred Nobel." Jackson told her. "You need to be one hundred percent sure that its Stark's fault. Not the fault of someone who resold the weapons to the militias, but his fault. If you're not, you won't be able to live with yourself if you punish him for something he didn't do."
Wanda was silent for quite a long time after that. She was thinking about what the former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent had said. What if she was wrong for all this time? What if Stark hadn't sold the weapons to the rebels? What if someone else had done that? Before she knew it, she was feeling sick. She rushed into things like a stupid little girl and helped Ultron become more powerful than before. It was her fault.
"Hey," Agent Jackson said, grabbing her hand. "Don't do that. Don't panic. You did something wrong. That doesn't make you a bad person."
"No, it does! I helped Ultron—" she cried before being interrupted.
"Stop that." the man said gently. "The friend that I told you about, Luke, he managed to fix things at the end. He did the right thing and saved his family."
She trembled in fear. This was too much for her. She shouldn't have gotten involved. She should have grieved and moved on, like a normal person. She should have gotten involved with Hydra and Ultron or anyone.
The agent cupped a gloved hand to her face. He turned her to face him. "You are going to be fine, Wanda." he told her. "You and Pietro still have time to make it right. Stark has Ultron's body, right? So its going to be fine."
She nodded at the agent and he took his hand away. "Thank you, Agent Jackson." she told him.
"Percy." he replied with a small smile.
She smiled back and leaned back into the chair. She was so tired of this day. She wanted it to end so that at least she could look forward to a better tomorrow. Her wishes were answered when she fell asleep shortly after that, the exhaustion of the day having finally caught up to her.
A few hours later, Wanda was woken up by Agent Jackson and was told that they were about to reach Stark Tower. It was nighttime in New York and Wanda could see the glittering skyscrapers as they flew in. The quinjet swept low across the skyline and Wanda saw as they approached Grand Central Terminal. In the background, Stark Tower rose from the ground, a large glass and steel structure that was well lit in the night.
She could see the landing platform that was located near the top of the building where the top floors cantilevered from the rest of the structure. She saw cranes that were in the process of being taken down near the base of the structure. In the back of her head, she remembered a news story about the bottom of the MetLife Building being deconstructed to make way for the expansion of Stark Tower.
Percy pulled in the quinjet expertly to the landing platform. She saw him concentrate as he maneuvered the plane into position on the landing pad, making sure not to collide with the tower. He set them down gently on the platform and opened the rear doors.
"See you later, Maximoff." Percy told her as she walked out.
She entered the building just in time to see him take-off again, off to who knows where.