Avengers, time to rid the world of Ultron. Oh wait, I feel like I am a part of the story. The final battle is here. Make sure you pay attention to the details and the POV shifts.
Music
The battle begins - "Fall" and "Disc Wars" off of Tron: Legacy
Avengers fight - "Drone dogfight" from Green Lantern
Lynnea charges into her final battle - "Fight song" by Rachel Platten
Ultron destroys the citadel - "Run" from Green Lantern
Parents are gone - "Carol Scolds Hal" from Green Lantern
Chapter Twenty-Four — Bringing down the house
The battles between the Avengers, their adult counterparts, and the robotic drones had begun.
The kid Avengers had reacquired their weapons and rearmed themselves to join up with their mentors and parents.
"You may have severed my control for the moment," Ultron spoke, "but the drones are still armed. They will still burn this world to ashes; eradicating the human race."
From several of his drones, flames blasted outward and encased the room in rampaging heat.
Everyone had to take cover somewhere to avoid being burned.
"So what is the plan?" James Rogers asked.
"Hit them and hit them hard," Francis advised them. "Pick your targets, but do not get caught."
The tentacles emerged from all around the Ultron brain tube. Over a dozen of the metallic vipers were ready to take them apart.
"Avengers, time to go to work!" Francis shouted and they all charged into battle.
Azari went in and attacked with his claws; severing off tentacles and heads of drones. His catlike prowess from his father and the electricity that came from his mother were ample enough weapons that proved to be useful against a robotic tyrant and his armies.
He leapt up into the air to grab hold of one drone that was flying, reached into its belly with his claws, and pulled out its power source before landing on the ground.
Another drone was making his unsteady approach in his direction He wondered why it was going so awkwardly being it was being it was controlled by Ultron.
It became clear when it blew into pieces, showing that Pym was inside it as he returned to his normal size. He must have been messing with the drone internally and caused it to crash.
"Nice," Azari commented.
"I try," Pym replied before the both of them had to drop to avoid the buzzsaw droid coming at them.
They watched as Torunn was there, charging up her sword, jumping into the air, and staking her sword deep into the metal.
"Come," she shouted. "Come seek your destructive destinies." She went back into the heat of battle, roaring loudly.
"Yeah," Pym said, "what she said." He grew into a large giant and went to attack more of the body looking droids.
Iron Man flew up and blasted one of the arms that had nearly been successful in hitting Pym upside his back before it would be able to cause injury.
While he was flying and distracting the tentacles and drones, he was staying uplinked with JOCASTA to make sure she kept him offline from turning the omega Protocol back on.
"JOCASTA, how are we doing?" he asked.
"Ultron is attempting to viralize and take me out of his system," his AI responded. "My programming is still holding, but it will not hold against a massive electronic purging."
"Then we keep him really busy to where he cannot process taking you out," Tony replied. "Everyone got that. Keep Ultron from getting back to turning on the drones. If we don't, we die."
"Copy that," Vision replied.
"One massive distraction coming up," Barton replied.
Francis Barton and Rina Logan were across the room, shooting and slicing at the bots.
He fired an arrow, shooting it through the abdomen of one bot, but the force of the shot had been so powerful, it went through a second one at the same time.
Rina sliced across, amputating a bot's leg and as it fell, she decapitated it.
This was the most fun they had had together in…well forever.
He looked over and saw his father and mother. They were back to back, shooting arrows at the bots. His mother was using some of her magical powers to cause the drones to explode.
It hurt him that they were not fighting alongside each other or that she suddenly returned to his life.
However, if they won this bout, he would make sure to return her favor of coming to the past to save them all.
He just wasn't sure how.
Clint and Lynnea Barton were firing on the drones. Her husband was using the visors on his eyes to help make his targets, but she was using her powers in very short bursts to cause more damage without expending too much energy.
She looked to her son who appeared to be tending quite well with the metal soldiers. He was shooting while Rina Logan was finishing off her own droids.
They were a formidable team.
But her attention was diverted to the fact that one of Ultron's wildly whipping tentacles was coming toward them.
"Clint, get down!" she shouted and shoved her husband out of the way.
The tentacle grabbed her in its tight vice and lifted her off the ground.
Her husband shouted for her, but she feared her fate as she was no longer in her control.
Ultron had the goddess right where he wanted her, in his clutches. It amused him that she tried to struggle but could not free herself.
"What a feast you will give me," he spoke. "Your magic, your power, your spirit; I would be invincible."
"Be careful with devouring an Asgardian," she spoke. "We tend to not agree with unnatural beings."
He was amused more. This cur needed to be destroyed.
In his serpent-like grasp, he attempted to throttle her to cause disorientation.
She was dazed, but still struggling. "My dear Ms. Morgan, these humans would have given up long ago if you had just died when you were supposed to. Now I will take great pride in extinguishing your light forever."
He activated his leeching command, but saw that nothing was coming from her; even as he squeezed.
"What is happening?"
Lynnea was surprised as well. However, it dawned on her that he was not a natural being and she was.
"Guess that is the lesson you failed to learn Ultron," she said.
"Enlighten me goddess," he asked.
"First thing. It's Lady Barton to you."
"And the second."
"Nature and metal do not mix. But I do know one natural element that does interact with metal. Now Torunn!" she shouted.
Her future niece leapt up high with her strong broadsword, a glowing energy of electric fury, and came down with a powerful stabbing thrust into the arm of Ultron.
The electricity did singe a bit, but Ultron felt the most the pain and had to drop the both of them to the ground.
"An excellent move thunder goddess," she complimented her.
"I am privileged to finally work alongside family," Torunn added.
While they were talking, a tentacle of wrath came across at them.
Lynnea was knocked hard across the battlefield and she met something with her head.
The darkness was the next thing she witnessed.
"Linney!" Clint Barton shouted after he watched her and Torunn go flying. Torunn indented a vat with her armor, but she was able to recover.
His wife not so much. Probably because she was still mortal and Torunn was still connected to her father Thor.
He had to get to her to make sure that she was all right.
Leaping over the fallen bots and shooting when required, he nearly got to her before a drone smashed him across the spine. Clint slammed hard onto the floor, but he was still too far away.
The EMP arrow that Linney had been given to him before they arrived dislodged from her holster and rolled away.
No, he thought. He had to get it back.
As he charged for the arrow, another tentacle came for him. It grabbed his ankle and wrenched him up into the air.
Now, they really needed help.
Francis Barton fired another arrow straight into the eye-socket of a drone and looked as his parents were both disabled.
One thing he did notice rolling off to the side was an arrow in a small capsule that was glowing. Why would an arrow be inside a capsule, he thought?
Maybe it was…no way. That was the key to stopping Ultron.
It was an EMP arrow.
Suddenly, a plan sprung to mind.
"Hey Cap!" he shouted. "Think you can score a hit on that glass shield around the brain?"
"If we can get rid of all of these tentacles," Rogers replied. "Why?"
"Got a plan if you can make it happen," he said. "You guys distract him," and he took off for the capsule.
"You heard Hawkeye," Azari called. "Let's sever some of these limbs."
"I'm with you," Torunn shouted in reply. "For Midgard!"
And Rogers, Azari, Torunn, and Giant Pym went charging toward the tentacles. They sliced or ripped off a few, but eventually what was remaining captured some of them. They just kept coming.
Hulk and Vision did what they could to help in disorienting and distracting Ultron.
Rogers slid out of a dark corner with his star-spangled shield and took aim. He was only going to have one shot at this to get it done so his timing had to be perfect.
"This one is for you dad," he whispered out loud and he whipped the shield when the opening was clear.
The shield soared through the gap where his timing expected to be on mark and impaled itself into the glass shield around the brain.
It was stuck…and now he was without a weapon.
Rogers flipped into an enclosed space where he would be shielded for now.
Francis Barton saw the shield strike clean into the glass around the Ultron Brain. He had done exactly what he wanted.
However, he hadn't gotten to the EMP arrow yet and even if he did get it, if fired it would not shatter the glass and strike its mark.
He reached into the quiver brought for him and found a bomb tip arrow.
This was more like it, he thought.
He took aim and fired at the shattering glass and caused more crackling of the glass.
But still it did not break.
The clock read that they were almost out of time. There was only about two more minutes until the end of the world.
Who doesn't like a deadline, he thought.
Her head hurt immensely, a crimson river flowing near her eye as vertigo took hold. Sounds overwhelmed her ears and the spinning made her want to wrench.
The battle was still raging against the cybernetic creature Ultron.
Lynnea struggled to roll and get back to her feet so her knees would have to suffice. Her wound that had been stitched up before must have ruptured and opened again.
Her vision cleared up, but she did not want to see what was happening.
Clint was high in the air wrapped in one of the metal tentacles being squeezed to the point she could see and feel his pain.
Young Rina Logan was thrown so hard that her body left an impression in the wall.
Tony Stark's suit was failing to where he could barely move or fire off an energy blast.
They were being overrun.
But this was not how it was supposed to end.
The legacy of Midgard, the future of it was lying on the end of this battle.
Lynnea felt powerful. She felt her energy rise and grow. She knew she was on borrowed time and life force with this bountiful recharge, but she felt renewed.
Her hands were glowing lightly. The vines from earlier illuminated and covered her flesh. Her body warmed slightly, hugged by the family that she cherished so much.
She looked up to her enemy and slowly got into her feet in a hunched squat.
"Ultron!" she screamed at her highest pitch.
The brain core within its large cylinder looked to her while the arms with Clinton, Francis, Torunn, and James stopped violently moving to destroy them.
"Your vile reign ends now," she spoke with confidence.
The voice spoke in humorous accord. "Your army is weakened to the point of extinction. How do you intend to destroy me? Your life and every human life on Earth shall be extinguished into the darkness of my absolute victory."
Lynnea's hand grasped a tight hold of her bow; causing it to glow brightly. Her medallion around her neck glowed with a green flame around the emerald leaf.
Mother, father, Lukas, be with me for I take my final stand unto death if it must be so, she prayed to her family.
"This time, I shall be the one that finishes it," she growled under her breath, rose to her feet in a springing charge, and ran into battle.
The howls of the people trying to prevent her from engaging into battle, but her spirit was singing to its highest crescendo. There was nothing that was going to stop her.
Her family was at stake, her future was at stake, her very existence was at stake.
Victory would be obtained today.
Lynnea sprung over the metal vine that came at her, slid on her shins to duck under a second, and fired a trio of arrows after spinning about on her knee.
The charged arrows of magical energy released from her bow and struck the glass casing in a perfect trifecta around the implanted shield.
The glass shattered on impact, releasing fluid and parts of the brain tissue onto the floor.
The young Rogers boy came and retrieved his fallen shield to use once more. He placed it up just before a drone's flame cannon tried to set Torunn ablaze.
Fleshy tentacles from under the brain came, but she grabbed her boot knife and sliced at them, but a metal one charged in her direction. She leapt up and scurried across the arm and vaulted onto the arm that was holding onto Clint.
Another arrow she loaded and pulled her bowstring back in musical precision and fired; freeing her husband so he could join her once more in the fray.
He in turn fired a shot while falling to free Torunn and James from a drone that had them pinned down while its ray fired and fanned at Rogers's shield.
James freed Francis with his recovered weapon that had fallen once the glass was gone and thrown hard at the tentacle that held him.
Ultron howled in anger as the liquid around his brain flowed out of the tube and to the floor.
Lynnea had bought them some more time.
"Lynnea, behind you!" Torunn shouted.
She tried to turn, but the claw grabbed her tightly on her shin. She was being jerked across the fluid covered floor as she attempted to wriggle free, but the grasp was vicelike. She was being dragged toward the opening where the monster was going to consume her and what power she had left.
"I will destroy you goddess of Asgard," Ultron roared, "and feast upon your energies."
She tried to pull herself upward with her arms, but there was no way because the more she moved, the tighter the grasp got on her leg.
Clint Barton leapt out and grabbed Linney's hand as Hulk held him. He was getting covered in the Ultron entrails as she already was coated; making her slippery. He grabbed hold of her hawk vest just to maintain somewhat of a grip.
Hulk had a tight grip on him and he had the kevlar of her vest, but with all the thrashing, he wouldn't be able to hold onto her much longer.
"Hang on babe!" he shouted.
The children tried to help, but even they were not going to be able to help too much.
"Someone, kill him!" he shouted in painful agony, but he did not want to let go.
Ultron's out of control nature caused them to be knocked away and Lynnea went sliding toward him.
"NO!" he cried.
He reached into his quiver and found there was only one arrow left in his arsenal. Not the one he would have wanted, but it might be useful.
He loaded the arrow, rolled away from an attacking battering ram, and launched.
It pierced into the computer console Ultron had been using to control the Omega Protocol.
"With that hit, you miss archer," Ultron mocked him. He at least had stopped before Lynnea had reached him.
"Don't be so sure," he shouted and grabbed his watch. And with that, twisted the dial.
A loud, reverberating sound filled the chamber, causing pain to everyone present.
The drones were actually beginning to implode as they malfunctioned.
Lynnea Barton was freed by her leg and he took notice. It was time to rescue her. Tony Stark blasted across the floor, scooping her up to safety before she was eaten. They were safe from harm.
"Thank you," she told him, "once again."
"You are most welcome your highness," Stark replied. "Couldn't have you become and Ultron appetizer."
"You are not greater than I! The Earth belongs to me!" Ultron's voice shouted.
There was a whistle from one area.
Everyone turned.
Francis turned to his girlfriend Wild Thing who tossed to him the EMP arrow that had been lost, but was now found.
"In the words of my generation," Francis said while loading the arrow and pulling back on his bowstring, "shut up."
And the arrow flew, singing through the attempts to stop it, but making its mark deep into the brain tissue.
The glowing ring on Lynnea's watch illuminated bright blue. She was able to press it, which she did with great pleasure.
The electrical charge ignited in the tip and electrocuted the brain.
The screams of Ultron reverberated off the chamber as it burned and sparked, causing everyone to back up in shock.
Drones began falling in droves. They were powering down and thrashing in resistance of their deaths.
Hive Facilities
At the HIVE Facilities, the people that had been lined up and hung for their immediate disposal through drone vaporization began to open their eyes.
The drones dropped and malfunctioned.
They were going to be spared and could be free at last.
Survivors charged into the facilities to begin freeing one another so they could leave and find new freedom.
Ultron's Citadel
Finally their nightmares were ending. Everyone cheered and embraced those they loved and worked with. They were relieved that the tyrannous robot and his subjugated drones were no more...or so they thought.
The readings on the screen indicated a rise in heat and plasma, Tony Stark began to notice on his indicator screens within his helmet.
"Boss, there is a rise in ambient temperatures," JOCASTA reported.
"Source?" he asked.
"A code upon the shut down of Ultron released into the nuclear power cells, raising their core temperatures," she reported. "It is processing too fast. I cannot stop it."
This place was going to implode and destroy itself.
"We need to go," Tony told them. "Ultron's final plan is to destroy the Citadel completely."
"Ah, I second that," Clint said, grabbed the hands of Lynnea and his son, and started leading the crowds outside.
The flames and implosions shook the facility, but everyone helped one other as they ran to escape.
Drones that were on the verge of death were using their bodies as weapons; exploding around them so they would hopefully kill them.
The main door finally appeared and the final push to get outside occurred. However it started to close.
Hulk bounded forward and got under the closing door. "Go!" he roared.
Everyone rushed out as the citadel started collapsing from the inside and plummeted lower; dropping level after level in height.
Hulk waited for tiny Pym to fly out the passage before he released his grip on the door.
Those that were closest to tower were thrown to the ground by the final explosion and debris. The leaders made it and stopped to catch their breath.
The dust and metal settled and everyone looked back.
Finally it was over.
Once that was done, the celebrations began. Cheers, hugs, spinning, whooping, hollering, kisses, and other methods of joy finally happened.
The Young Avengers and their elders had succeeded in saving the Earth.
Clint was shaking the hand of young James Rogers when his eyes turned to Lynnea who was being hugged by Henry Pym.
They hugged together knowing at last, their pain was over.
Francis watched from afar as his father and the woman that was his real mother were embracing and swaying on their ankles. It was clear that they were happy.
Rina came toward him and gave him a tender clinch on his shoulder.
"Let it go babe," she told him. "You can't be mad at her forever. You have both your parents and that is so fortunate. Just talk to her."
"About what?" Francis quipped. "Thanks your highness for saving us and then going back to your posh life back up there. No, I need to keep my distance."
Suddenly, the clouds opened from the ash embers, smoke, flames, and death to a rainbow beam. It pushed its way down in fury and landed right on top of his parents.
And they were gone when the beam returned to the sky.
"Well, if you wanted your chance, it is now gone," she said and walked away.
God, when others were right, it really pissed him off.
Where did they go? You better go find out