A.N – Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favourited and followed!

I would like to take this time to acknowledge the terrible loss of Chadwick Boseman. Some people may say he was only an actor, but he was much more – he was an inspiration to millions of young people around the world. He was hardworking, generous and compassionate, qualities that should be celebrated and honoured. I hope that he is at peace now.

Disclaimer – I do not own anything you recognise. The Avengers and the characters therein, belong to Marvel.

Chapter Sixteen

'The sceptre is gone!' Bruce called down from the second landing, Natasha standing next to him.

'We need to go after it!' Thor all but growled, stalking towards the balcony. Beside Steve, Nadia nodded her agreement, her eyes still fixed on the remains of Ultron's body.

'I'm coming with you.' She said, and the Asgardian merely nodded. Steve stopped her quickly with a hand on her arm. She gave him a sad smile, no doubt reading the worry in his eyes and she touched his cheek softly. 'I'll be fine. We'll be back soon.'

'Watch your backs.' Was all he said in reply, his throat tight as he watched her walk away from him, towards the balcony. Her feet were cut up from walking on broken glass, blood and dust staining her previously immaculate white dress. This wasn't the way the night was supposed to go – they were supposed to finish having drinks with their friends, head back to their room and make love the way he'd been fantasising about since he'd seen how wonderful she looked in red lipstick. They were supposed to leave in the morning and board a plane for Paris, where he would finally propose to her, present her with the ring he'd painstakingly picked out and secure their future together.

Yet there she was, leaping off the balcony with Thor and flying off into the night with a rumble of thunder. And there Steve stood, in a destroyed living room with another world ending problem before him.

This wasn't how the night was meant to go.

'We should get to the lab,' Tony said, his face surprisingly blank. 'Find out what went wrong.'

He didn't wait for anyone, whisking away quickly towards the lab. Steve sighed, going over to where Hill was standing, her feet bleeding too. Scooping her up quickly despite her protests, and marched into the lab where Bruce and Tony were already working. He sat her down in one of the rolling desk chairs and she gave him a small smile.

Rhodey staggered in a few moments later, eyes wild, his jacket torn and clutching his arm. Steve nodded at the colonel and the older man jerked his chin in response. Natasha swept into the room soon after, dressed in leggings and a hoodie and sat down at one of the computers, her fingers typing furiously.

Helen Cho came in a little while later with Clint, who dropped one of the robot's remains on the far table, sparing it a withering look before retreating to higher ground, his sharp blue eyes watching his team as they worked.

'Is someone going to explain to me what the hell Ultron even is?' Rhodey demanded, his question ringing through the silent room like a gunshot. Steve crossed his arms, clenching his jaw and waiting.

It was Bruce who answered, wringing his hands nervously. 'Ultron was an idea that Tony came up with a few years ago after the invasion of New York. He's an artificial intelligence peacekeeping program we created using the decrypted code derived from the gem encased within Loki's sceptre.'

'Why? Why would you build something like that?'

'We built him,' Tony said, not looking up from his work, 'to protect Earth from any and all domestic and extra-terrestrial threats.'

'Isn't that our job?' Clint snarked, bracing his hands against the railing in front of him.

'But we won't always be here, will we?' Tony's voice was cold, colder than Steve had ever heard it and the anger simmering in his chest grew to a boil. Tony swept past them all to the table that the Iron Legion robot was resting on, pressing his hands to the table and staring down at it.

Steve shook his head and grit his teeth, turning to grab a first aid kit and marching over to Hill, handing it to her. She accepted it with a small smile and started tending to her cut feet. Steve then handed an ice pack to Rhodey, who held it against his shoulder. Steve did all this in silence, not wanting Nadia to return and go nuclear when she found out her teammates hadn't received proper medical care.

He wondered where she was, how far she had flown with Thor to track down the legionnaire and recover the stolen sceptre. They had literally had it for less than a week before it had been stolen by someone else. The thought made a muscle in Steve's jaw clench.

This whole situation reeked of familiarity for him. This was the same thing that SHIELD had been trying to do with the helicarriers, protect people from threats that didn't exist yet and that technology had been hijacked for a much more sinister purpose. The same thing was happening now, only Tony and Bruce were the instigators of this disaster, not the nameless, faceless World Security Council. He felt like history was repeating itself and Steve grit his teeth, unused to feeling such anger.

'All our work is gone.' Bruce finally said, 'Ultron cleared out, used the internet as an escape hatch.'

Steve shook his head and was unable to keep the disgust out of this voice at the name. 'Ultron.'

Natasha turned around from her desk, crossing her arms with a frown on her face. 'He's been in everything. Files, surveillance. Probably knows more about us than we know about each other.'

Rhodey paced the room, still clutching the ice pack to his arm. 'He's in your files, he's in the internet. What if he decides to access something a little more exciting?'

Hill realised at the same time the rest of them did. 'Nuclear codes.'

'Nuclear codes.' Rhodey confirmed. 'Look, we need to make some calls, assuming we still can.'

'Nukes? He said he wanted us dead.' Natasha reminded them.

Lead settled in Steve's stomach at the reminder that his friends had been threatened. 'He didn't say dead. He said extinct.'

'He also said he killed somebody.' Clint added.

Hill looked up, tweezers held aloft from where she was picking shards of glass out of her wounds. 'But there wasn't anyone else in the building.'

Tony stepped forwards, into the empty space in the middle of the lab. 'Yes, there was.'

He flicked his wrist with the tablet in his hand and 3D image of JARVIS' consciousness popped up in the middle of the room. Steve frowned at the image, noting that it was fractured and destroyed, like someone had taken a sledgehammer to the AI's programming.

Tony stepped to the side, a grim expression on his face as Bruce stepped forward, shock written clearly on his face as he stared down at the hologram.

'This is insane,' the scientist breathed. Steve hung his head and crossed his arms over his chest.

'JARVIS was the first line of defence. He would've shut Ultron down, it makes sense.' He said bleakly. And it did make sense. The strategist in Steve would have done the same thing and he saw the move for what it was – a declaration of war.

Bruce frowned and shook his head. 'No, Ultron could've assimilated Jarvis. This isn't strategy, this is...rage.'

Heavy footsteps filled the lab and everyone turned towards the sound. Thor stomped into the room, scarlet cape fluttering behind him and thunder written across his face as he stormed towards Tony and grabbed him by his throat, lifting him into the air.

'It's going around.' Clint remarked.

'Woah, woah, woah!' Rhodey protested.

Tony managed to choke out, 'Come on. Use your words, buddy.'

Thor sneered at the man he had in his grip. 'I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark.' He replied angrily. Nadia appeared at Thor's elbow suddenly, her hair a mess from flying in the wind and her skin pale from the cold.

Steve hurried forwards, relief filling him at seeing Nadia unharmed, but anxiety gripping him when he saw they were empty-handed. 'Thor! The Legionnaire.'

Thor dropped Tony, who stumbled backwards away from the angry demi-god. 'Trail went cold about a hundred miles out but it's headed north, and it has the sceptre. Now we have to retrieve it, again.'

Steve glanced at Nadia who shook her head slowly. He noticed her lipstick had rubbed off and that her lips were now tinged blue.

'The genie's out of that bottle. Clear and present is Ultron.' Natasha said.

'I don't understand.' Helen said and all eyes turned to her, but she was looking at Tony, who moved further away from Thor and towards the computer he had been working at. 'You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?'

The attention in the room swivelled from Doctor Cho to Tony, who had his back to the room. Steve's eyebrows rose when he started laughing, and Bruce subtly shaking his head at him to get him to stop.

Thor pointed an accusing finger at Tony. 'You think this is funny?' He asked in disbelief.

Tony turned towards Thor, still giggling a little. 'No. It's probably not, right?' Tony looked around the room for confirmation before continuing, 'Is this very terrible? Is it so...is it so...it is. It's so terrible.'

'This could've been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand.' Thor stated, and a small part of Steve agreed with him.

Tony interrupted him though. 'No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It is funny. It's a hoot that you don't get why we need this.'

'Tony, maybe this might not be the time to...' Bruce began hesitantly.

Tony swung around. 'Really?! That's it? You just roll over, show your belly, every time somebody snarls.'

Bruce raised his eyebrows disbelievingly. 'Only when I've created a murder bot.'

Tony spread his arms, 'We didn't. We weren't even close. Were we close to an interface?'

Bruce shook his head, dismissing Tony's argument.

Steve stepped forwards and uncrossed his arms, his anger coming to light. 'Well, you did something right. And you did it right here. The Avengers were supposed to be different than SHIELD –'

'Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?' Tony interrupted.

'No, it's never come up.' Rhodey replied sarcastically.

'Saved New York?'

'Never heard that.'

'Recall that? A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing three hundred feet below it.' Tony looked around at the people gathered in the lab. 'We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the live long day, but…that up there?' he pointed to the ceiling. 'That's...that's the end game. How were you guys planning on beating that?'

Steve replied instantly. 'Together.'

He saw the flash of fear in Tony's eyes before he replied, 'We'll lose.'

However, Steve didn't flinch. 'Then we'll do that together, too.'

Tony looked at him for a moment before turning away.

'Thor's right. Ultron's calling us out. And I'd like to find him before he's ready for us. The world's a big place. Let's start making it smaller.' Steve ordered and the team got to the work. Nadia glanced at Tony before she made a hasty exit, bloody footprints left on the floor in her wake.

He hurried after her, following her footsteps down to their apartment where she had perched herself on top of the bathroom counter, a first aid kit open next to her. Her hands were shaking and she was shivering, her lips trembling with cold.

'Doll, you're freezing.' He said, crouching in front of her and putting his hands on her upper arms. Blood dripped onto his pants from the wounds on her legs and feet.

She shrugged. 'I'll be alright. A hot shower and some band-aids and I'll be good to go.'

Steve sighed at her stubbornness. She was always eager to encourage others to look after themselves, but when it came to her own wellbeing she didn't even register. Turning around, he switched the faucet in the bathtub on and put the plug in the drain. He carefully lifted her off the counter, turning her around.

'What are you doing?' she asked as he swept her hair over her shoulder to expose the zip on her dress. His mouth twisted, thinking that this was not how he imagined he would be getting her naked that night.

'Multitasking. You get in the tub and warm up, I'll take care of your feet.' He explained. Nadia nodded, her body shaking with another violent shiver as the dress fell to the floor. She quickly unstrapped the thigh holster that had housed her knife from before and slipped out of her underwear while Steve checked the temperature on the water that filled the tub. She sank into its heat with a sigh of bliss.

Her feet hung over the edge of the tub, and Steve dragged the small stool that they usually placed their towels on closer before sitting on it and picking up the first aid kit.

'What happened while I was gone?' she asked, her eyes sweeping over his face.

'We don't have any leads. Ultron wiped our systems of any traces.' Steve replied, tweezers in hand as he plucked small pieces of glass from in between her toes and out of gashes.

'I can't believe this is happening.' She sighed, shaking her head.

'Well, that's Tony for you.'

Nadia frowned at the bitterness in his voice and Steve felt his fury from earlier returning. His hands remained gentle, though as he set aside the tweezers and started dabbing antiseptic cream on her cuts.

'I doubt he meant to do this, Steve.'

'That's not what bothers me, Nadia. It's that he did it at all. He created a program to prevent threats against humanity, the same way SHIELD did when they created those helicarriers. Millions of people could have died because that technology was hacked and turned into a global extermination tool.'

'His intentions were good.'

Steve's patience snapped and he dragged a hand through his hair. 'That's not the point! His fear and arrogance clouded his judgement and now here we are, threatened by something he created to protect us. And protect us from what, I ask you? An enemy that doesn't even exist!'

Nadia tilted her head to the side, studying him with an unwavering gaze. 'That's not what bothers you Steve. Not really.'

'Oh?' he muttered, peeling open band-aids.

'He didn't tell you about his fears and because of that, he created something that now threatens the people you love. His betrayal stings you the most and that's what this is in your eyes. A betrayal.'

Steve's sharp gaze met her calm, cool one. 'How are you not angry about this?'

'I am angry, Steve. I'm angry that we have to risk our lives to clean up the mess Tony has made. He has created something horrible, has made a decision that affects us all and is claiming that it was for our own good and that makes me furious. He usually learns from his mistakes and he admitted that what SHIELD did was a mistake, yet he's done the exact same thing.'

'Then why are you defending him?'

'Because I can't help but wonder why he did this. Why would he take such a risk and why now? The only answer I can come up with is that Tony is afraid.'

Steve sighed, dropping his head into his hands. He had always known that Nadia was smarter than him, but it was times like this that he was reminded of that fact. He had been so caught up what Tony had done and how it would affect the team, that he hadn't even stopped to consider why. The truth was that if Tony was afraid of something, then they should all be wary.

'What do you think he's afraid of?'

Water sloshed as Nadia moved closer to him and put a hand on his cheek. Her skin was significantly warmer than before and there was colour back in her lips and face. He covered her hand with his own, fingers intertwining.

'I don't know, and I don't think he'll tell us. For now, we focus on Ultron. Then we figure out the rest.'

A small smile twitched at his lips. 'I love you.'

Her eyes softened and she leaned forwards, pressing a kiss to his forehead. 'I love you too.'

'I'm sorry we won't be able to go to Paris like I promised.' He apologised and he meant it. He had been so excited, so eager to begin the journey towards making her his wife. But that had been put on hold because of Tony's penchant for playing with things that he shouldn't.

'We can go after all this is taken care of.' Nadia said easily. She leaned forward and their lips met in an easy kiss, one they had shared a thousand times. Eventually they pulled away from one another their breathing a little heavier. 'But for now, soldier, we have to go to work.'

X

The sun was coming up when they separated to get to work. Steve had pulled on his battle suit pants and boots along with a blue bulletproof undershirt. Nadia had decided to follow his lead, pulling on her jumpsuit and tying the top half around her waist, her own green undershirt on. They had joined the team, where tasks were assigned and they all got to work. Doctor Cho departed for her lab in South Korea, where it was decided she would be safer. Rhodey left for the Pentagon to appraise the military of the current situation. It was no secret that while he was an Avenger, he was also part of the US military. This was a point of tension within the team, as they all knew that Rhodey reported on the Avengers to his superiors. What he told them and how often was unknown, and nobody brought it up. It was an unspoken agreement among everyone.

Tony and Bruce got to work on dissecting their operations in creating Ultron to see if they could pinpoint where they went wrong. They theorised that maybe it could lead them to a way of stopping him. Hill had contacted the media and released a statement on the current situation before returning to the Tower, where she immediately got to work on trying to pinpoint any activity that could lead them to a possible location on Ultron.

Thor went up to the roof, trying to speak to Heimdall, the gatekeeper to Asgard and his best friend. He had the gift of sight and was able to observe things across the universe and so could provide them with the answers they so desperately needed.

Natasha and Nadia were both working through their contacts, both shady and legit to put the word out on Ultron and possibly gain some intel. Natasha was typing away at her computer furiously, a cell phone jammed between her ear and shoulder while she worked. Nadia only had one more call to make, and she stepped outside to do it.

The phone rang twice before he picked up. 'Nadia?'

'Hey Josef.' She sighed in relief, glad he'd been able to answer.

'What the hell is going on?' he demanded.

She frowned. 'What do you mean?'

'There is this…thing. This hacker that is attacking all kind of intelligence across the world. I was hoping you'd know who it is so that you can point my gun in the right direction.'

'Your gun won't do you any good, brother. This isn't just any hacker.' Nadia pinched the bridge of her nose and explained the situation. The creation of Ultron, his abilities and that he wanted to destroy the Avengers. Josef just listened in silence while she talked and when she was finished, the only sound that came through the line was his breathing.

'He threatened you?' Josef all but growled.

'I'm fine, Josef. Steve is watching my back and I'm currently in the most secure building on the planet. I just wanted to warn you so that you can do your thing and protect people from this lunatic.'

'Thanks for the heads up, sis. Do you want me to come down there?'

Nadia smiled at his offer. 'No. You're of more use wherever you are. If you could put some feelers out though, any information right now is more than we've got.'

'If I hear anything I'll let you know. Watch your back, Nadia.'

'You too.'

She hung up and tucked the cellphone back into her pocket, making her way back inside. Natasha sat in the small meeting room just outside the lab, still perched in front of her computer. Tony and Bruce had joined her, both working away at something. Nadia spotted Rhodey's face on the screen and came over to see him.

'We're getting access tonight on all basic information streams.' Natasha told him, taking a sip of the black coffee in her mug.

'Yeah, well you guys are definitely off the Pentagon's Christmas list.' Rhodey replied. 'Every country with a nuke is fighting a cyber attack. War Machine is being deployed to the Middle East in case certain people start blaming each other instead of you.'

Tony peered over Natasha's other shoulder and held up a programming disk. 'Yeah, well hold that thought. Let me overnight you a new encryption drive for your suit in case Ultron wants in.'

'You got it. Thanks.' Rhodey's face softened in gratitude.

'You hear something, we need to hear it too.' Natasha added.

'That goes both ways. Watch your six.'

'You too.'

Natasha ended the call at the same time Thor and Steve came into the room. Thor sported a troubled look on his face and Steve was carrying a tablet.

'Any help from on high?' Steve asked and Nadia glanced at Thor.

'Heimdall is either away from his post or has been ordered not to answer.' Thor replied, frustration lacing his tone. 'But Ultron can't hide forever. We'll find him.'

Steve and Thor joined Natasha, Nadia and Tony at the desk, tension in the air at the seriousness of the situation. Steve handed the tablet to Thor.

'Well, he's not exactly hiding.' Steve said grimly. Thor studied the screen in a way that made Nadia's blood run cold.

'What's this?' Tony asked, and Thor slapped the tablet against his chest, clearly still angry with him.

'A message.' Steve replied, crossing his arms. 'Ultron killed Strucker.'

'What a shame.' Nadia droned sarcastically.

'And he did a Banksy at the crime scene, just for us.' Tony added and Bruce wandered over, glancing over Tony's shoulder to peer at the photo on the screen.

Natasha took the tablet from Tony and studied the photo. Nadia could see it from where she was standing and she wrinkled her nose in disgust. Strucker's face was a bloody mess, his body propped up against the wall of a prison cell, where the word PEACE had been written in what looked like Strucker's own blood.

'This is good.' Natasha said, sounding optimistic. Bruce shot her a bewildered look.

'No, this is not good.' He contradicted.

'He's showing us his hand.' Nadia nodded, catching on to Natasha's logic.

'This is a smokescreen. Why send a message when you've just given a speech?' Natasha elaborated.

Steve nodded along. 'Strucker knew something that Ultron wanted us to miss.'

Natasha started typing, eyes darting across the screen. 'Yeah, I bet he...Yep. Everything we had on Strucker has been erased.'

'Not everything.' Tony said, sounding awfully smug. 'I managed to salvage a bunch of paper files and records that SHIELD had after it collapsed. I guarantee there is something on Strucker in there.'

'Where are these files?' Nadia asked.

'In the basement.'

As one, they all hurried down to the basement, pulling box upon box from the storage section that was marked with Strucker's name. They hauled the information back up to the meeting room and began tearing through the information, dividing up the boxes between the seven of them.

'Known associates. Well, Strucker had a lot of friends.' Steve murmured as he sorted through his box.

'Well, these people are all horrible.' Bruce remarked. Nadia sighed, throwing down the file in her hand.

'Wait. I know that guy.' Tony said, and Nadia looked up to see him pointing at the file in Bruce's hand. Tony leaned over and slipped the photo from the file to take a closer look. 'From back in the day. He operates off the African coast, black market arms.'

Tony looked up just in time to see Steve give him an accusing look. Tony rolled his eyes and passed the photo to Nadia, who didn't recognise the man and so passed it to Thor. 'There are conventions, alright? You meet people, I didn't sell him anything. He was talking about finding something new, a game changer, it was all very "Ahab."'

Thor pointed to a mark on the back of Ulysses Klaue's neck. 'This.'

Tony frowned at the picture. 'Uh, it's a tattoo. I don't think he had it...'

Thor shook his head. 'No, those are tattoos, this is a brand.'

'Who brands people these days?' Nadia wondered, taking the photo back and taking a closer look. 'It looks like it's healed well. I'd say it happened a while ago.'

'Can we find out where this symbol comes from?' Steve asked, looking at Tony.

'It's probably either South American or African in origin.' Nadia said, peering at the brand closer. 'Most European countries use alphabets that are either Latin or Slavic based. This is more pictographic which is common amongst older cultures.'

Everyone stared at her. She blinked around at them, feeling self-conscious. 'What?' she asked.

'How do you know stuff like that?' Clint wondered. She just shrugged and passed the photo to Tony, who took it and wandered towards his computer. He scanned the image and brought up a recognition program to run a trace on the symbol.

Bruce sat down at the computer while the program ran and the rest of the team continued looking through the files. Steve sidled up to Nadia but she didn't look up from what she was doing.

'Sometimes, I forget that you're a genius.' He admitted softly, not offence intended in his words.

'Well nobody's perfect, soldier.' She replied teasingly. He grinned at her.

Suddenly the computer chirped and their attention was drawn back to the present. Bruce nodded.

'Oh, yeah. It's a word in an African dialect meaning thief, in a much less friendly way.'

'What dialect?' Steve asked.

'Wakanada...? Wa...Wa...Wakanda.'

Steve and Tony looked at each other sharply and Nadia turned around, her eyes fixing on Steve's shield, which leaned harmlessly against the drawers there.

'If this guy got out of Wakanda with some of their trade goods...' Tony began.

'I thought your father said he got the last of it?' Steve wondered.

'I don't follow.' Bruce said. 'What comes out of Wakanda?'

They all turned to see Nadia holding Steve's shield in her hands, her lips pursed.

'The strongest metal on earth.' Tony answered Bruce's question.

Steve leaned closer to Tony. 'Where is this guy now?'