Fortunately, no one had been hurt during the chaos that ascended via Ultron, aside from the odd bruise. They had reconvened in the lab, Thor having flown off after it had been made apparent that one of the legionnaires had managed to nab the sceptre in the fight, and Bruce was hastily checking the computers, before pulling back with a quiet, muttered curse.
"He's been in everything." He said, running an anxious hand through his hair. "All our files, research on the staff...it's gone."
"I can get some help on that." Marie managed to pipe up, the attack having sobered her up greatly. She also had a hoodie that Ronan was sure was Natasha's wrapped around her shoulders like a crude imitation of a shock blanket. "I can make a call but...what was that?"
"You called it something." Steve's eyes had gone to Bruce, who was fiddling with his glasses. "Ultron."
"It was a program." Ronan felt his throat clog up, and flinched immediately when eyes turned to him. "It...I don't…"
"Not important right now." Rhodey said, and Ronan hid his head in his hands. He felt a hand settle on his shoulder, and curled half heartedly into the hold Loki had on him. "The thing is, if Ultron has the ability to get into the files, he has the ability to get into the internet. He has the ability to get into something a little more exciting."
"Nuclear codes." Hill cursed quietly and Rhodey nodded.
"Nuclear codes." He agreed.
"Look, you've gotta be able to call people, right?" Eli stated. "We need to warn people about this."
"Nukes?" Natasha tilted her head slightly, brows furrowed in mild confusion. "He said he wanted us dead - the Avengers, specifically."
"Killers was the term used." Loki said, his voice silky smooth and calm. "It explains why he didn't go for Eli, Marie and Helen, didn't directly attack them despite being associated with us." Ronan let out a quiet, distressed noise against his will, and Loki carded a hand through his curls almost soothingly.
"And he said extinct." Steve pointed out, and Ronan was glad he didn't point out the absence of his name in that list of people who hadn't killed. He thought it might actually send him into a mild panic if he did. Clint hummed slightly.
"He also said he killed somebody." Clint pointed out. "But everyone - except from Thor, who is...somewhere - is here. There's no one else in the building."
"...There was." Tony sounded desolate as he said that, and with a flick of his wrist, brought up a vision Ronan never thought he would see.
"Oh, Tony…" The shattered coding of Jarvis was now visible to everyone, orange coding shattered and flickering in a way that would have them make sense of it. As much as it hurt Tony, it hurt Ronan too. Jarvis wasn't just an AI - he was like a friend, even if he was a bundle of computer code. He learned things, was a constant, and the look on Tony's face was devastating. "I'm so sorry."
"Not your fault." Was Tony's immediate response, and he let out a world weary sigh. "Fuck."
"Jarvis was our first line of defence." Steve stated. "He would have tried to shut Ultron down -"
"No. Ultron could have assimilated Jarvis. But he didn't." Bruce commented. "This isn't tactic or strategy, or taking down an opponent - this is rage."
That was when Thor returned, and in a brilliant show of rage, grabbed Tony by the throat and hoisted him up. Tony instantly began scrabbling at the hand around his throat, Bruce flinched violently, and Loki left Ronan's side to pry the fingers around Tony's throat away.
"Calm yourself." He said, and Thor was still glaring, still looked like he wanted to choke the life out of Tony and it scared Ronan. He'd never seen Thor look so angry before.
"Calm down." With Marie's command came a wave of calm, one that everyone seemed to fall under. The green Ronan had briefly seen rising in Bruce's eyes faded into warm brown, Thor's entire stance seemed to relax and Ronan felt the tightness of his muscles loosen into something more comfortable. "Fighting each other isn't going to get us anywhere. Tell us about the legionnaire, Thor."
"I lost the trail after about 100 miles out. It's heading north, with the sceptre." Thor blinked, shook his head. "You…"
"I'm surprised that worked, too." Marie managed. "Huh. Leveled up."
"I don't understand." Helen turned from the destroyed legionnaire she'd been observing to look at Tony. "You built this program - why is it trying to kill us?"
Instead of answering, Tony let out a laugh. It would have been something to rage over, if Ronan hadn't caught the nervousness in it, the initial panic.
"Tony…" Bruce's voice had a warning to it, and Tony flailed a hand, before hiding his head in his hands.
"You think this is funny?" Steve's voice had gone cold, but Loki shook his head minutely.
"Defence mechanism." He murmured, confirming Ronan's initial suspicion as Tony managed to control himself.
"No, it's not, probably not funny. It's terrible. What I do think is a hoot," Tony started, and Ronan felt the sudden urge to groan because not helping, Tony. "is that you don't get why we need this."
"Tony, please…" Ronan trailed off slightly, shifting from foot to foot when eyes turned to him. Loki made to go towards him, only stopping when Ronan shook his head slightly. "Is this really the best time -"
"It's the only time!" Tony's hands were flying now, gesticulating. "Does everyone remember when, a few years back, I...I went through a wormhole?" Ronan noted the minute shaking of Tony's hands now, the slightly wild edge to his eyes. "When I flew a nuke through a wormhole, into space, and nearly died doing it?" Ronan heard the clearing of a throat, the start of a derisive comment, but it was Eli who spoke.
"I was there. I remember." He nodded slightly. "It's like...when you read about colonisation. You want to stop whatever's up there from tearing down what we've built here."
"Exactly!" Tony gestured towards Eli frantically. "300 feet above ground level, a wormhole opened, portalling an intergalactic army into New York. Nearly decimated the entire city in a matter of minutes. Would have, if we were not there." During this, Loki had moved back towards Ronan, and he chanced a glance to Loki's face. The god looked distraught, almost, and Ronan slipped a hand into Loki's pale one, squeezing it tightly. It hadn't been his fault, not...not completely, at least. "We can fight arms dealers, human opponents, all the live long day, but that? What I saw up there, that's the end game and how...how do you plan on beating that?"
"Together." Steve said and Tony let out a derisive snort.
"We'll lose."
"Then we'll do that together, too."
"As lovely as this is, it isn't getting us any closer to finding this...Ultron. Or what made it not like Stark's other AIs." Loki spoke up. "I have a feeling it has something to do with the sceptre - to do with something relating to a set of stones mentioned in legend." Ronan felt his blood run cold.
"Infinity stones." He whispered and Loki hummed his agreement.
"I shall return to Asgard, gain access to what information I can regarding them, see if there is a way we can...secure them, if that was indeed what made Ultron a danger, a threat." His eyes flickered around the room and, when no disagreement arose, turned to Ronan and pressed a kiss to his hairline. "I'll be back soon enough. Don't put yourself in danger needlessly. Don't...don't die."
"I don't think anyone will let me die." Ronan retorted, leaned up and pressed a soft kiss to Loki's lips. The god let out a tiny sigh, something soft and gentle, before inclining his head in farewell and leaving the room. A matter of minutes later, and there was the familiar sound of the bifrost activating on the landing pad and Ronan knew that Loki was gone.
"Well." Clint started, turning to Marie. "Think you can call your friend in?"
XoooX
Ronan was seriously starting to wonder how Marie seemed to keep collecting mutants as friends. He was leaning towards the theory that, much like the lgbtq community, mutants huddled together like penguins.
Marie's friend was a pretty Korean girl, with slightly dark skin and equally dark eyes. Her hair hung pin straight to her mid waist, tipped with purple dye, but that wasn't the most distinctive thing about her. That award went to the vibrant purple tattoos covering most of her skin.
They were designed like circuitry, winding around her arms and up her neck, surrounding her right eye but not covering the entirety of her face. She looked tired, which was to be expected, considering it was about four in the morning.
"Everyone, Tara Moore. Tara, everyone." Marie managed an introduction. Ronan let out a startled noise in the back of his throat.
"Tyler's sister." He made the connection, and it earned him a tiny smile from the newcomer.
"Got it in one, Lucky." And, immediately, Ronan wanted to leave the room. "Apparently you're having a tech issue? Don't worry, I won't ask for too many details." She raised a brow when Clint opened his mouth, most likely to protest. "I'm assuming it's super secret spy business or something of the sort - especially since Natasha is here."
"Pleasure to have you working with us again." Natasha dipped her head slightly and Tara flashed a wink. "Tara can be trusted with...most intel. Not like she won't find out everything about us if she feels like it."
"I am strictly professional." Tara retorted. "Get me to a computer and I'll see what I can drag up."
"He's deleted all our files. All our back ups." Tony mentioned. "He deleted the back ups of our back ups. How do you think you can drag up anything we haven't tried to?"
"Because I'm special." Tara flashed a dazzling smile, holding up her hands and waggling her fingers as though she were casting a spell. "The tattoos? Not just for the aesthetic." Then she placed her hands on the hard drive, and her markings lit up.
It was startling enough that Ronan nearly jumped, the circuitry glowing ultraviolet and the computers lights glowed the same colour, Tara standing stock still, straight and upright like she'd just been given an electric shock.
It felt like hours until Tara pulled back with a hiss, the lights dimming as soon as they had lit up, but it must have been a minute, tops. She held a hand to her head, shaking it roughly. "Fucking...shit that hurt."
"It hurt?" Marie sounded concerned now, and darted over when Tara took a step back only to stumble. "It doesn't usually hurt, right?"
"Whatever the fuck deleted your shit left a nasty virus or something." Tara shook her head again, like trying to shake off a thought. "I kept pushing, managed to get a smidge, then it pushed back. Walls upon walls upon walls - and not the usual stuff I can coax into letting me pass."
"What was that?" Clint's eyes were wide. "You're a mutant, but not...like this lot."
"Wow, thanks, Barton." Eli rolled his eyes, and Tara shot him a look. Immediately he settled down.
"I can communicate with technology. Useful skill - especially in this day and age." Tara managed a tiny smile. "Who do you think wiped SHIELD data off the web when Natasha released the files? Who saved agents' lives, their families, when no documentation could be found? Anything exposing you to the world, to the people who were still HYDRA and active, who would want you dead - all deleted. Except from in their minds, but human minds are so fragile." Tara tapped a finger against her temple. "Who's to say they got the right address? Who's to say that they got the street name wrong and stumbled across an abandoned warehouse or a construction site? I make tech do what I ask it to, and every day I wonder how you can't see it. The coding and the way it works and twines - stunning. Beautiful. Until you hit the biggest fucking defence wall you've seen in your life and whoever put it there is powerful enough to leave you scrambling."
"That. Is so cool." Tony managed to get out. "I can understand code, but I need to actually get into the very specifics and with a touch -"
"I'm in." Tara said, managing a grin at last. "Your tech is gorgeous, by the way. All clean coding and pretty difficult to corrupt. I mean, I can do it, but I'm not your ordinary hacker."
"As interesting as this is," Steve cut in. "Did you get anything?"
"A name. Klaue." Tara said. "Nothing else important, like...smudges of letters. Sorry. It's just as annoying for me as it is for you, trust me."
"That name sounds familiar…" Tony trailed off in thought, before shaking his head. "I still can't believe he wiped all our files."
"...Not all." Steve retorted. "We have paper files, right? Just...going to have to do some digging."
"Great." Eli didn't sound overly impressed. "That's another few hours of finding absolutely nothing."
"You're such a pessimist." Clint told him. "Come on - I'll need help with the boxes."
XoooX
"So…"
"That is instantly worrying." Ronan looked up from the file he was skimming to meet Bruce's curious eyes and pretended he didn't see everyone else pretending to be invested in their own files while listening in. "So what?"
"You and Loki mentioned something called infinity stones." Bruce said, tilting his head a little. "Care to explain that a bit?"
"I can try, I guess. I don't know much about them, other than stories and stuff but they're real." Ronan closed his file, brushing his fringe back out of his eyes. "They were created in the big bang - the forming of the universe. Six in total, and they all represent something - space, time, reality, power, soul and mind."
"Seems a little far fetched - no offence." Natasha raised an eyebrow at Tony's comment, and to be honest Ronan got why Tony was doubtful. It sounded very fanciful.
"A few years ago, we found out Norse gods are actually real and then aliens invaded New York. Ronan literally went into space to fight evil elves, and you think this is weird?"
"This is the straw that breaks the camel's back, so to speak."
"Look, they're real. It was confirmed by Thor's dad." Ronan said, pausing when he realised just how surreal this whole experience was. "He's Odin. You know, the one who drank from Mirmir's well of knowledge. He would know that sort of thing. And we encountered one - the aether, which was the reality stone in another form. I assume that it can change form, due to it being able to bend reality itself."
"And you think that Ultron was caused by one of them?" Rhodey asked, raising an eyebrow. "Because you said you were nowhere near close to even creating a working interface?"
"Something like that. At least, Loki seemed to think so, and that makes sense." Ronan answered, fiddling with the file in his hand, trying desperately to not start tearing it into tiny pieces. "When Bruce and Tony and I looked at the inside of the sceptre, we saw it...thinking. Acting like a brain, neurons firing, learning and adapting. What if...if that was a casing for one? It could wipe people's minds - what if it has the mind stone in there? What if that's what made Ultron come to life, metaphorically speaking? We had no start, but this stone can work and learn and adapt. It isn't crazy to think that it gave the boost we needed to bring Ultron online."
"If this is real - and I'm still not totally on board with it, because it sounds like magic -"
"Magic is just science we can't explain, according to Jane." Ronan cut into Tony's words, which he promptly ignored, continuing like Ronan hadn't spoken.
" - then these things are powerful and terrifying and Ultron has one." He said, and they all grew quiet.
"Well, fuck." Marie said, succinct and to the point as always. "Well, we better find Klaue soon, and take him down."
"Yeah, no, you're not coming." Natasha said, and Marie opened her mouth instantly to argue, only to stop when Natasha held up her hand. "Your gift doesn't work with machines, Marie. You're not coming. Hold down the fort here. Stay out of conflict."
"...Fine. Whatever." Marie did not sound like she was fine with that, and began flicking through her files with a ferocity that made Bruce wince.
"Don't hurt the files, they've done nothing to you." Eli said, and Steve let out a noise of triumph.
"No need to look through them any more." He said, placing an open file on the table. "I found him. Now, all we have to do is pinpoint where, exactly, he is. Fortunately, we have luck on our side."
"You know what?" Ronan said, peering at the file. "I think we do. Here - something about vibranium. And I think Tony knows where that comes from."
"That I do." Tony agreed, flashing a grin. "Who wants to go to Africa?"