Ascension
11:03 AM
The New Avengers, suited up, were gathered in T'Challa's war room when Steve arrived moments later. Two maps - one of Brazil and the other of Canada - were displayed in the center of the room. "You are here, so we can begin."
To start, T'Challa highlighted several spots on the maps, then turned to the others. "These are the areas that we believe Ultron is using to build stronger drones and himself a stronger shell. They consist of abandoned automotive factories and steel mills that have likely been retrofitted to accommodate vibranium."
Steve nodded and picked up from there. "We know Ultron himself is in one of these two locations. We just don't know which. Today's mission is to determine which location he is currently hiding it, and stop him before he completes his new body. Col. Rhodes, you take point in Brazil. Take Luke, Peter, Jennifer, Bucky and Danny with you. Monica, you take point in Canada. Take Janet, Scott, Clint, Bobbi and Brunnhilda."
"It is imperative that you all avoid any conflict while your numbers are halved," T'Challa warned. "If you find Ultron and he is in his vibranium shell, contact me and I will be there to pick you up within seconds."
"How?" Peter asked.
T'Challa's head dipped down briefly. "I would rather keep that to myself."
Peter raised an eyebrow, but said nothing more. For a few seconds, anyway. "Well, let's get this show on the road, gang. Avengers, onward!"
"Ugh. We need a rally cry or something," Janet groaned.
"I'll get our PR guy right on that," Tony said. By that, he meant Pepper, of course. "In the mean time, what about us?"
"We stay here," Steve answered. "T'Challa and I talked and agree that it's best that we stay away, in case Ultron tries to activate the nanites in us."
Tony cursed under his breath. "Fine. Guess I'll help Marvelous with his toys." With that, he shoved his hands into his pockets and strode off.
"There is a large chance this could go very, very badly," T'Challa stated bluntly. "Ultron in his first form defeated them soundly. Now that he may be more powerful, it will only be worse."
He was right. "Then they need to get to him before he becomes more powerful."
That, as was the usually the case, was easier said than done. But it had to be done if they were going to defeat Ultron.
The team split into their assigned groups and boarded jets piloted by two pilots handpicked by T'Challa. After initiating the takeoff sequence, the two jets took off for their mission destinations.
Brampton, Ontario, Canada – 7:30 AM EDT
The jet hovered silently above the automotive factory in Brampton, Ontario. Even though it was early in the morning, the city was quiet. Entirely too quiet, which usually meant that something was up. Monica looked over the radar while Jocasta did a scan of the area. "I detect activity within the factory," she reported. "I also detect large amounts of vibranium within."
Monica nodded. "Alright. That settles that. Any signs of Ultron?"
"Not that I can tell."
She sighed and turned the radar off. "Fine. We'll do this the old-fashioned way."
"We all going in?" Clint asked as he filled his quiver with trick arrows.
"No, just two." She jabbed a finger toward Scott and Janet. "You're up, guys."
Scott nodded and slipped his helmet on.
"Purely surveillance right now," she noted. "If you find Ultron, let us know right away and we'll take him on together."
"Got it." They shrunk down and slipped out of a small port in the back of the jet. Janet flew them down to the roof, where they slipped inside the factory through an air duct. "Okay, should we split up?"
"Nope." She started through the air duct toward the main section of the factory. "Remember what happened on that ship? If Ultron could detect us there, he probably already knows we're here."
That made sense, so he nodded and ran after her. "Alright, then there's no point in sneaking around since he already knows we're here."
"Surveillance, Scott," she reminded. "You can't surveil if you're out in the open fighting people." She zipped around the corner and flew for several more yards before stopping at an air vent. "Whoa. Come look at this."
Scott easily slipped through and squatted down on the grill. The vent was overlooking the main assembly area. Every conveyor belt was busy transporting drones from one machine to another for assembly. Along the walls, dozens, maybe even hundreds of completed drones awaited activation. Several drones stood watch stoically.
The most surprising thing was that there were humans aiding in the assembly.
"Why are they helping?" Janet floated out of the shaft. "I'm going to get a closer look. Stay here."
Before he could object, she flew off. "So much for not splitting up," he muttered.
=I heard that.= Janet was too small for the human workers to notice her and the drones weren't actively looking for her, so their optical sensors weren't attuned to something her size. She zipped in between machines and floated quietly up to a woman inspecting an arm.
The woman glanced upward briefly, giving Janet a good look at her eyes. They were blue. Supernaturally blue.
A cold chill ran down her spine.
The man beside her was the same, as were the rest of those working on that particular conveyor belt. They had all been brainwashed by the scepter.
"They're brainwashed," she reported when she returned to the ventilation shaft. Her voice was soft and her body was shaking visibly from holding back the recent memories of her own brainwashing.
Scott put his hands gently on her arms to calm her. "It's okay. You're not in any danger anymore." She nodded slowly, prompting him to sign softly. "Ultron has that scepter thing, so that's no surprise." He looked back down at the assembly floor. The people were working diligently and quietly. "The whole city must be under." That would have explained why it was so quiet.
She looked up at him, brown eyes wide with anxiety. "We'll help them, right?"
He nodded. "Yeah, we'll do what we can. Come on, let's keep going." This time, Janet walked beside him rather than flew. He knew that was to give her some time to calm down further so she could focus on the task at hand, finding Ultron.
He gave her hand a squeeze and a supportive smile. She returned the gesture with a small smile of her own, then set about looking for Ultron.
But he was nowhere to be found. Not on any of the assembly floors, or in any offices or storage facilities. Which meant that he either wasn't there or had left some time ago. Neither option bode well.
They returned to the quinjet and reported what they found to Monica and the others.
"Not there," Monica said with a sigh. "Not surprising."
"He's smart," Bobbi said. "There are civilians inside, so any kind of fight is going to potentially end in injuries or even fatalities."
When Scott mentioned the scepter, Clint grew quiet and withdrawn. Bobbi noticed him and touched his hand.
"Curse Thor and his foolishness," Val spat bitterly. "If he had not heeded the words of that silver-tongued bastard, those mortals would not be enfolded within the mind gem's control."
No one could argue with her.
"What now?" Janet asked.
"For now, we get that scepter out of there and free those people," Monica said. "Then we deal with the drones."
"We checked all throughout the facility and it wasn't there, though," Scott noted.
"But it has to be."
"You don't have to be near Loki for him to control you," Clint said monotonously.
Bobbi squeezed his hand softly to help him calm down more quickly. It worked a little, but not as much as she would have liked. She knew why and she hated it.
"Okay. I guess it's with Ultron, then. I'll contact Rhodey and fill him in." Monica headed for the cockpit to do just that. While she was gone, the rest of the team sat in silence. Their thoughts were chiefly on the civilians inside the factory and how they were going to free them from the brainwashing and get them out safely.
The direct approach was only going to get them killed and sneaking them out wasn't going to work. The only other way was to wait until Rhodey and his team destroyed the scepter; doing that carried the risk of letting the drones be completed.
Every decision had its own risks and consequences. This was a question of which consequence was easiest to live with.
Monica returned from the cockpit and pulled her mask on. "Move in. I'll get the civilians out. Scott, you shut down the assembly lines. The rest of you take care of the drones."
She nodded at the pilot, who began to descend to the ground below.
This was the riskiest course to take, but it was, strangely, also the safest. It was only going to take Monica a few moments to carry the civilians a few miles away to a nearby hospital or something similar, and a few moments longer to explain to the staff. The others could certainly last that long.
Ipiranga, Sao Paulo, Brazil – 8:30 AM UTC -3
The industrial district of Sao Paulo, Ipiranga in Brazil was the mission site of the other half of the Avengers. Like the team in Canada, they were hovering some distance above the city to avoid detection and to also scan the area. According to Jocasta, there was activity in the assembly factory at that time.
After hearing that, Rhodey gave a nod toward the others. "We're going in. Jocasta, alert local authorities and fill them in on the situation." He motioned to the pilot, who lowered the jet down onto the roof of the factory. "I'll take point; Luke bring up the rear. If we're lucky, we'll catch Ultron before he completes himself."
The jet touched down and the team poured out. They entered the building through the door on the roof and found themselves in the office section. Dust accumulated from years of disuse made the air thick and hard to breath.
"Doubt we'll find anything here," Peter mused. He was crawling along the ceiling and noticed cameras stationed every fifty feet. They were new. "Ultron has a security system."
"Then he already knows we're here. Let's move!" They sprinted through the office space and found an elevator and a staircase, both leading to the assembly floor. The more agile ones took the stairs quickly, while the others took the elevator.
They burst into the assembly floor, fully expecting to find countless drones waiting for them. They found none.
The floor was completely empty. In fact, it looked as though most of the machinery hadn't been used in years. Only one conveyor belt had been used recently.
Peter frown behind his mask. His spider sense wasn't going off, so he dropped to the floor and fell into a low crouch. "I guess he isn't here."
"Doesn't look like anyone has been," Jen commented, running her finger along a dusty robotic arm.
"Someone's been here within the last few days," Bucky said, noting the recently used machines. He slipped the strap of his large assault rifle over his shoulder and walked slowly around the floor.
"Maybe he figured we'd figure out where he was hiding and moved shop somewhere else," Luke suggested.
"Wouldn't be surprising." Danny rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "The cameras in the offices upstairs were brand new, and some of this equipment has been used. Probably in the last day or so. Unless he finished in record time, he's still here, I'd bet."
"Split up and try to find him?"
Rhodey thought it over for a moment. "Fine, we'll split up. Comms on at all times. As soon as you find Ultron, if you find him, contact the others, but do not engage."
They separated into groups of three: Rhodey with Jennifer and Peter, and Bucky with Luke and Danny.
Throughout the facility, there was no sign of anyone having been there in years. Everything was covered in a thick film of dirt and dust.
Peter didn't like this. They had been having fits trying to figure Ultron out when he was right in front of them. Now that he had the element of surprise on his side? And Peter couldn't even depend on his spider sense, not with that machine that could send it false alarms whenever he needed to. It wasn't fair. One person shouldn't have that many advantages.
"Hang on," Rhodey said suddenly.
Peter crouched down again, preparing for any kind of attack.
Tense moments ticked by at a snail's pace until he spoke again. "That was Rambeau. She says that Loki's scepter is somewhere around here."
Oh great. He had forgotten that Ultron stole that at the party a few days ago. "Add that to the to-do list, then."
"Any idea where it could be?" Jen asked.
"More than likely wherever Ultron is."
Meanwhile, Bucky, Luke and Danny found themselves searching through the storage area. Old and rusted pieces of metal, broken machinery and old warning signs were piled and stacked against the walls and in the center of the room. There was enough discarded material to form rows within the room.
=Heads up guys,= Rhodey said through the comm, =Rambeau just told me that Ultron is likely in our vicinity, as is Loki's scepter.=
Luke sighed. "Thanks for the heads up." He looked at Bucky and Danny. "Might as well start here."
"Think he'd keep it in a box?" Bucky placed a crate on the ground and ripped the top off. "I'd keep it near me." He started rifling through the contents.
"Maybe that's what he wants us to think," Danny mused while doing the same.
"At this point. I've stopped trying to figure out how he thinks." Luke joined them in searching through the crates.
The three men worked quietly, sifting through each crate and then looking through the broken machinery. Minutes passed without them making much headway as far as finding the scepter or any sign of Ultron went.
"A bunch of junk," Luke concluded after tossing the last content of the last crate to the floor.
"Figured." Bucky stood from kneeling on the floor and noticed a door on the other side of the room. "Let's head through there next." They walked slowly and warily through the doorway, Bucky in front with his assault rifle trained forward.
The room they stepped into was pitch black, the only light coming from the dim light in the previous room. Bucky moved further into the room, finger just barely resting over the trigger. There was an eerie quiet settling within the room. Tension was permeable.
"Find a light," he whispered.
"You won't find one, I'm afraid."
Luke, Danny and Bucky jumped back, weapon drawn and chi flared.
"By now, you've figured out that my drones are in another country. I don't doubt your teammates will find some way to destroy most of them. Not that it matters anymore."
"Where are you? Show yourself!" Luke demanded.
Ultron chuckled, a mechanical warble that sent chills up their spines. "Are you sure you want that? I have bested you at nearly every turn; when I haven't, your victories were hollow. False. And from here on, your hopes of winning against me again are over."
"We'll see about that."
"See? You don't know how to see past your own bravado, Cage. You rely on your unbreakable skin to protect you from harm. Yet, it is your greatest weakness. Nothing is truly unbreakable, least of all something belonging to a flesh and blood being. The flesh is weak, even yours."
Ultron scarlet red eyes suddenly flashed to life, illuminating the room with a bloody crimson luminescence.
"The end of humanity begins now."