DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN MARVEL OR ANY ASSOCIATED CHARACTERS
Chapter 29
Somehow, Sean managed to grab a few winks of sleep before Steve shook him awake. "Time to go, we have a plan."
Sean nodded lazily before rising and donning his suit. The heavy gray kevlar sent reassuring messages throughout his body and mind, steadying him for the trials to come. Sean strapped his sword on and descended the stairs just as Steve laid out the plan to Tony. "I'll take Sean, Natasha, and Clint."
Tony nodded. "Alright, strictly recon. I'll hit the NEXUS, join you as soon as I can."
Sean followed the two out the front door, headed for the jet. "If Ultron's really building a body-" Steve began.
"It'll be more powerful than any of us. Maybe all of us. An android designed by a robot," Tony elaborated.
Steve sighed and looked at Sean, who shrugged. "You know I really miss the days when the weirdest thing science ever created was the two of us," Steve joked humorlessly as Fury appeared.
"I'll drop Banner off at the Tower. Mind if I borrow Ms. Hill?" the old man asked.
Tony nodded. "She's all yours. Apparently."
"What are you gonna do?" Sean spoke up.
Fury smiled. "I don't know. Something dramatic, I hope," he said before stepping out towards his jet.
Steve jerked his head to their quinjet, and Sean followed him to it. Natasha was already on board, they were just waiting on Clint, who was saying goodbye to Laura. When the archer made his appearance, he sat in the pilot's chair and began the startup sequence.
Sean felt the usual sense of weightlessness as the jet took off, leaving the secluded farmhouse a distant memory.
Clint lowered the jet so that Steve could hop off for recon on the top of a nearby roof. Sean stayed on board in case they needed quick reinforcement with Nat. "Two minutes, stay close," Steve ordered.
"Copy," Sean said.
Their job was to hover for extraction. They watched as Steve showed off his parkour skills, on his way to Cho's lab. Seoul was a large, sprawling city with little open areas, so the lab had to be built in the river. When Steve disappeared inside, Sean waited for an update.
"Dr. Cho!" Sean heard Steve say.
"He's uploading himself into the body," she warned.
"Where?" Steve asked.
"The real power is inside the cradle. The gem, its power is uncontainable. You can't just blow it up, you have to get the cradle to Stark," Cho said with some difficulty.
She must be injured, Sean thought.
"First, I have to find it," Steve said. "You guys copy that?"
"We did," Barton said from the pilot's chair.
Natasha was scrolling through a monitor for potential flights. "I got a private jet taking off across town, no manifest. That could be him."
Sean shook his head. "No, that's too easy…" he trailed off.
Clint was looking down at the highways. "There, it's a truck from the lab. Right above you, Cap. On the loop by the bridge. It's them. I got three with the cradle, one in the cab. I could take out the driver."
"Negative," Steve replied. "That truck crashes, the gem could level the city. We need to draw out Ultron."
Sean made his way to the front of the jet, leaning on Clint's chair. He watched as Steve vaulted over the edge of the loop before landing on the roof of the trailer the cradle was in. The next thing Sean knew, his brother was hanging off the blown apart doors.
"Well, he's definitely unhappy. I'm gonna try and keep him that way," Steve said.
"You're not a match for him, Cap," Clint cautioned. Sean agreed. A flying suit more advanced than Tony's wasn't an ideal matchup for a man, even if he was a super soldier.
"Thanks, Barton," Steve said sarcastically before being thrown off the truck completely and onto the windshield of a car behind him. Steve simply rode the car back to the truck, landing on the roof as the main Ultron body emerged to face him. Clint was maneuvering the jet through the buildings to try and keep sight of them, but they lost eyes.
Sean had no idea what Clint and Nat were planning, but obviously they knew something he didn't, as Natasha opened a compartment in the middle of the jet, that turned out to be a motorcycle. "Aw, no fair," Sean pouted as Natasha winked at him before mounting the bike.
"We got a window," Clint announced. "Four...three...give 'em hell."
Natasha shot out of the jet and onto the busy street, weaving through traffic like her life depended on it. At one point, Sean even saw her pick up Steve's shield. "I'm always picking up after you boys," she complained.
"They're heading under the overpass, I've got no shot," Clint said.
"Which way?" Nat asked over comms. Sean took that as his signal to be the navigator.
"Uh, hard right...now," he said. She immediately turned onto the side street. "Another right, then left. You got 'em."
Natasha slid underneath the truck, still on the bike, before tossing Steve's shield back up to him. Evidently, Sean's brother was struggling without it. He knocked Ultron over with it, but the sneaky robot brought up a chunk of concrete with his magnet thing, causing Natasha to stop her pursuit momentarily. Ultron threw Steve off the truck, him landing on yet another car, before Ultron used his magnet again, flipping the car Steve was on.
Sean's brother would have died one hundred percent if it weren't for his enhanced reflexes and super speed. He landed lightly on one knee and used his compact stance to accelerate and leap back onto the truck. "Come on!" he challenged as he renewed his assault on Ultron.
"Clint, can you draw out the guards?" Natasha asked.
The archer shrugged. "Let's find out," he said, glancing at Sean. "You may wanna hold onto something."
Clint came around the bridge in front of the truck and opened fire on Ultron, only angering the robot further. Sure enough, the two guards in the back of the truck flew off after Clint and Sean in the jet. They attached themselves to the cockpit, and before Sean had a chance to hold onto the handles on the ceiling, Clint did a vertical spin. Sean rolled around the inside of the jet, probably hitting his head on everything possible before landing back on the floor when Clint leveled out. "Ow."
Suddenly, the two robots chasing Clint and Sean in the jet turned around. "They're heading back towards you," Clint told Natasha as Sean slowly got to his feet. "So whatever you're gonna do, do it now."
"I'm going in. Cap, can you keep him occupied?" Natasha asked as Clint began to circle around.
"Whaddya think I been doing?" Steve said, sounding out of breath.
Just as Clint finished circling around, Sean saw the trailer suddenly take off into the air, the two guards acting as rocket boosters. Clint took off after it, staying in pursuit. "Package is airborne. I have a clean shot," Clint announced.
"Negative. I am still in the truck," Natasha replied.
"What the hell are you doing?" Sean asked.
"Just be ready, I'm sending the package to you," Natasha said.
Clint shifted in his seat before looking at Sean. "How do you want me to take it?"
Sean let out a bark of laughter as Natasha replied. "You might wish you hadn't asked that. And tell that idiot behind you to stop laughing, this is serious."
Sean and Clint stayed on the truck's tail before Steve came in with a report. "I lost him, he's headed your way."
Clint spun the jet around and lowered the ramp, preparing for package transfer. "Nat, we gotta go."
Sean turned around just as the trailer blew up, and he saw Natasha riding the cradle into the ramp. Sean reached out to grab her hand and pull her in, but their fingers barely brushed before Ultron appeared and grabbed her by the ankle, dragging her off. "Nat! Steve, do you see Nat?" Sean called in desperation.
"Cap, you see Nat?" Clint asked.
"If you have the package, get it to Stark. Go!" Steve ordered in their ears.
"Steve, we can't leave Nat," Sean tried.
Clint didn't wanna give up, either. "Do you have eyes on Nat?"
"Go!" was the only answer they got from Steve. Clint, seemingly without thinking, gunned the jet to top speed before cursing himself under his breath.
"What the hell do we do now?" Sean asked him. Clint only shrugged. "We'd better hope this package is actually worth something, then."
Clint landed the jet silently before lowering the ramp. Sean got behind the cradle and began to push as Clint steered. They took it up to Banner's lab, where Tony and Bruce were already waiting. "Anything on Nat?" Bruce asked.
Sean spread his hands and sighed. "I haven't heard," Tony answered for him. "But, she's alive, or Ultron'd be rubbing our faces in it."
Clint hopped off of the cradle, where he'd been attempting to pry it open. "This is sealed tight," he informed.
"We're gonna need to access the program, break it down from within," Banner told Tony, who turned to Clint and Sean.
"Any chance Natasha might leave either of you a message, outside the internet? Old school spy stuff?" he asked.
Sean thought for a minute before nodding to Clint. "There are some nets I can cast. Yeah, we'll find her," he said before motioning for Sean to follow.
Sean followed Clint down below the lab, where there was an old radio and broadcasting station. Sean put the headphones on, leaving one ear out, ready to receive any message at would send. It would likely be in Morse code, so Clint had a notepad and pen ready.
The two of them sat for a while before Clint broke the silence. "You know she's in love with you, right?"
Sean was taken aback. "What?"
"Natasha, she's in love with you. I can see it in the way she looks at you when you're not looking," Clint nodded.
"Um…" Sean was speechless.
Clint chuckled. "Relax, buddy. There's plenty of time for the two of you to patch things up. Believe it or not, back in the day, you two actually were the perfect couple. You just made one stupid mistake, and that's usually all it takes. You're just lucky she didn't take it to heart. She still loves you man, and I think you do too."
Sean sighed before grinning. "Your wife must be teaching you things," he joked to the archer.
"Yep. She's the one who noticed it back when you stayed with us last year," Clint said.
Sean nodded. "Fair enough. I'd been planning on asking her out again, but-"
He was interrupted by the sounds of the radio sputtering with static. He held up a hand to Clint as the series of dots and dashes came through. "Sokovia. Strucker's fortress. Ultron here. Planning something," Sean told Clint.
Clint clapped his hands together. "Finally, some good news."
The archer may have spoken too soon, however, as Sean looked up and saw Steve in Banner's lab, flanked by the Maximoff twins. Sean snapped his head to Clint. "What the hell?" he asked before grabbing his sword and sprinting upstairs, Clint drawing a pistol and shooting through the glass. The Pietro kid fell through the shattered glass to land under Clint's foot as Tony and Steve began going at it.
"What? You didn't see that coming?" Sean heard the archer behind him.
Sean emerged in the lab to a scene of utter chaos. Banner was being attacked by the Wanda girl, and Steve was fighting Tony. Then, out of nowhere, Thor appeared and stood on top of the cradle before shooting lightning into it, fueling its power.
When Thor ran out of lightning, there was an eerie pause before an explosion from the cradle threw the God of Thunder backwards. A red figure emerged out of the remnants of the cradle, kneeling on the edge. It had metal plating thoughout its body, and in the center of its forehead was a small, yellow gem. Sean drew his sword and crept towards it slowly as it rose to its full height.
It looked around the room at everyone before studying its own body. It seemed to have an angry look on its face that Sean thought didn't bode well. Sure enough, the figure looked at Thor and rushed him, but the Asgardian deflected the being towards the window, where it suddenly stopped, levitating in mid air, looking at its reflection in the plate glass window.
Thor recalled his hammer, and Steve and Sean quickly followed, ready to face the new being. Can vibranium damage itself? Sean wondered as he hefted his sword, waiting for the figure to make a move. Thor held up a hand to the two brothers, signaling them to wait. Clearly, Thor had a plan or wanted to see something.
Thor set his hammer down on a table nearby as the being turned around, a showing of peace. Banner, Clint, Tony, and the Maximoffs all joined them soon after.
The being levitated towards them before setting down next to Thor, growing a bodysuit in the process, seemingly trying to hide its nakedness. "I'm sorry, that was...odd," it spoke. "Thank you," it said to Thor.
He took another look at the blonde Asgardian before sprouting a golden cape and a collar to go with it. Sean couldn't help but chuckle at the android's jealousy. "Thor," Steve called. "You helped create this?"
Thor faced the rest of the team. "I've had a vision. A whirlpool that sucks in all hope of life, and at its center, is that," he said, pointing to the gem in the android's forehead.
"What, the gem?" Banner asked.
"It's the Mind Stone. One of the six Infinity Stones, the greatest power in the universe, unparalleled in its destructive capabilities," Thor explained.
Then why give it to a robot? Sean wondered.
"Then why would you bring it to-" Steve began before Thor cut him off.
"Because Stark is right," Thor said.
Sean laughed. "Oh my God. The world is ending. Did you just say Stark's right?"
"Oh, it's definitely the end times," Banner agreed.
Thor wasn't joking, though. "The Avengers cannot defeat Ultron."
"Not alone," the android spoke.
Steve, still on guard, stepped towards the robot. "Why does your Vision sound like JARVIS?"
"We reconfigured JARVIS' matrix to create something new," Tony said, stepping towards Vision, then aside as it passed him.
Sean chuckled. "I, for one, think I've had my fill of new."
Vision turned towards Steve and Sean. "You think I'm a child of Ultron?"
"You're not?" Steve asked.
Vision shook his head. "I'm not Ultron. I'm not JARVIS, I am...I am."
Wanda stepped forward. "I looked in your head and saw annihilation."
Vision stared at her. "Look again."
Clint chuckled with no humor. "Yeah, your seal of approval means jack to me."
Thor wasn't done trying to convince his fellow Avengers, though. "Their powers, the horrors in our heads, Ultron himself, they all came from the Mind Stone, and are nothing compared to what it can unleash. But with it on our side-"
"Is it?" Steve interrupted, turning to Vision. "Are you? On our side?"
Vision shook his head. "I don't think it's that simple."
"Well it better get real simple real soon," Clint warned.
Vision looked around again. "I am on the side of life. Ultron isn't. He will end it all."
"What's he waiting for?" Tony asked.
Vision looked at his creator. "For you."
"Where?" Banner asked.
"Sokovia, he's got Nat there, too," Sean said.
Banner stepped towards Vision, getting in the android's face. "If we're wrong about you. If you're the monster that Ultron made you to be..." he trailed off.
Vision didn't look scared in the slightest. "What will you do?" Vision asked. It didn't sound like a taunt, more of genuine curiosity. "I don't want to kill Ultron. He's unique, and he's in pain. But that pain will roll over the Earth, so he must be destroyed. Every form he's built, every trace of his presence on the net. We have to act now. And not one of us can do it without the others. Maybe I am a monster, I don't think I'd know if I were one. I'm not what you are, and not what you intended. So there may be no way to make you trust me, but we need to go."
Sean's mouth dropped open in surprise. The Vision was holding Thor's hammer out to him. Thor slowly took it, and Vision walked off. The only one who looked indifferent was Steve, further adding to Sean's suspicions about the subject, he just hadn't had the time to ask his brother about them yet.
Thor smiled uneasily. "Right. Well done," he said, patting Tony on the shoulder.
