So...A new story for like the first time in a year.. I've never specifically written in this area. But I've dabbled in some others places. X-Men, Young Justice. But none has been consistently uploaded. Honestly I can't promise this one would be either. The main reason being of the posting I do on my account at AO3 (Archive of our Own.) A story called Trinity with over 75,000 words. I want to start updating all my fics on here again. Alchemy, and Lost in Time. Specifically I have plans to update Lost in Time, but I thought this would be a good place to rejuvenate my FF account.
The idea for this story was kind of a spur of the moment thing and I've developed a basis for a few chapters but I don't know if it will ever surpass that. I've always like this movie but I feel like it leaves so many questions because of the way they did it. How did Ultron beat all the heroes? Where the Avengers kids really the last supers ever? Did that mean Ultron was just killing off baby mutants? It had been 13 years and apparently Ultron conquered North America and just finished conquering Europe, how does the world look right now? I know it was just a fun one-off movie, but I kind of wanted to give myself a chance to do some proper worldbuilding. The movie gives me a good basis, and I'd like to try and expand from there.
Anyways this is a pretty long intro so I'm just going to say if your interested in my Trinity story on AO3 it's about Damian Wayne, Jon Kent, and Lyta Trevor, or the new 'trinity' in the DC Universe. You can find me at DarKnight77 over there. I'll probably add this over there, and that story over here at some point as well.
Okay...now I'm done, enjoy!
2020 Year Zero
NICE, FRANCE - April 19, 14:16 CEST TWO YEARS SINCE ULTRON'S DEFEAT.
"I don't know what's worse. The fact that this is the seventh straight mission where going shorthanded. Or the fact that I haven't restocked on arrows since the mission in Bordeaux." Francis sighed and tinkered with his arrows. The worst thing was he barely had any trick arrows either. He'd have to make everyone count
"How many do you have?" James asked, he watched the outsides of the windows patiently. The beautiful coastline of Nice was in view. France was truly a beautiful country that had been affected deeply by Ultron. He truly did a number on the world. The entirety of the Western Hemisphere and Europe fell to Ultron. Europe didn't get it nearly as bad as North America. But it didn't change the fact that his reach was seemingly everywhere. It was annoying and tiresome.
"25 arrows. 24 really when you consider one is a grapple." Francis told James.
"You'll be fine." James told his friend/rival and got up from his seat grabbing the cracked vibranium shield, and strapping it to his back. Then he configured his wrist shield making sure it was active as well, both would be necessary, If this was going to be anything like the Bordeaux mission, this was going to be a long fight that slogged on.
"I'll be fine?" Francis asked incredulously "If you haven't noticed Rogers, I don't possess your ability to jump out of moving planes and survive like it's nothing. Or lift 800 pounds over my head. My arrows are all I got."
"You'll be fine." James said once again confidently "Barton we faced down Ultron and back then all you had were arrows made with the Scavengers at half the quality. Now with the stuff you've engineered in the lab. 25 Arrows will be enough. We've got this."
"Always the unwavering optimist." Francis sighed but allowed a smirk to come on his face "Whatever you're the boss. I guess if we die everyone will know it was your fault."
James rolled his eyes at Francis' antics "Pym status?"
"A few minutes from the dropzone Cap'n!" Pym exclaimed from the cockpit "I suggest you and Barton get ready. I'm going to fly the ship over the French Rivera Coastline, you two enter the city and I'll do my best to land the plane and join you."
"Perfect." James commented, he quickly grabbed his brown utility belt and clipped it around his waist, and the handgun holsters clipped from his chest to his back like suspenders. All of this over his black and red jacket he had worn and subtly upgraded over the years. He had taken a lot of inspiration seeing his father in action with old WW2 footage and pictures. "And the Killstick Pym?"
"The Killstick is going to work. Promise." Pym insisted, he sounded a little annoyed at the insinuation that his little creation wasn't going to work...again.
"Oh yeah." Francis rolled his eyes and put on his purple and yellow jacket over his black spandex suit. He quickly attached his quiver to his back and collapsed his bow. It was mission time "I remember the last time you told us the Killstick would work. Had Rogers and I fighting for whole nother hour while you tried to fix the thing."
"That was one time." Pym complained "I forgot to give it juice from the last time It was used, it was properly energized this time so we should be fine."
James took out the small USB looking device from his utility belt and eyed it precariously. It had been their biggest asset in the fight against the remaining Ultron bots. Pym, Stark, and Banner had managed to make a Killstick. One that when plugged into the information centres Ultron placed in every city he conquered, would reverse or reroute his bots 'brainwaves' forcing them to shut down, and self-destruct. Without it things could get overwhelming. Especially when they were as shorthanded as they were now.
"I trust Pym." James tucked it away in his pouch. "We'll be fine."
"I trust the little guy as well." Barton defended himself "I'm just saying If I find myself back to back with you surrounded by a dozen Ultron robots again...I'm not going to be happy."
"2 minutes till dropzone." Pym announced
"Alright Hawkeye. Remember, we are going for the tallest building here. You can't miss it. The La Prefecture. It's 17 stories high and probably a fortress. We want to clear civilians as far as we can from the building before we take it. It's in the heart of the city so you can beat there are going to be people out."
"It'd be easier if they stayed in their houses. I don't understand why they think it's a good idea to come out. They're just hurting themselves." Barton sighed angrily
"They've heard about the revolutions in the rest of France and they just can't resist. They know it's inevitable that we're going to come for them. They have hope now. It's a good thing the people aren't scared." James observed
"Hitting the dropzone." Pym called from the cockpit "Ready for me to open the hatch?"
"Open the hatch Pym." James commanded, they were still over fifty feet in the air but the jump was nothing for the son of Captain America and Black Widow. He got his last piece of his outfit on a little military style helmet with an A on it, with goggles to boot, just like the one his father wore. You could take the A for America, or Avenger, he didn't care, he just wanted the people of France to look at him and understand he was here to help.
"Do your best to catch up with us Pym!" James yelled over the noise, he nodded at Francis before jumping out of the plane and falling through the air, he dove face first to gather speed before bracing for impact, diving legs first into the water, and swimming for the shoreline.
"Show off." Francis shook his head with a grin. He waited for Pym to get way closer to the water before calmly jumping off as well and swimming to the shoreline. Part one of the liberation efforts were already in beautiful effect.
"Jocasta, find me a good place over the water to land this thing!" Pym told the AI system
James swam to the coastline of Nice and waited for Francis pulling him in over the edge before they wordlessly, stealthy started their infiltration of the city. Robot Ultron Warriors flew over the city patrolling and making sure the humans didn't do anything they didn't like. Which was basically anything other than breathing.
"You take the high ground." James commanded there was a ton of perches uptop of the city, with many buildings. The only problem for Francis would be getting up there without any Robots noticing.
"It's risky..." Francis thought over, but started scaling the building anyway
"I'll cover you." James assured him, he waited patiently by the building, and waited for Hawkeye to get to the top. Once Hawkeye got there he caught the eye of the two bots surrounding the area, they had no time to even think about shooting him, as James whirled his energy shield through the both of them and continued charging into the city. FERMER LE CHEMIN, TOUT LE MONDE RETOURNE, RESTE A L'INTÉRIEUR." (CLEAR THE WAY. EVERYONE GET BACK, STAY INSIDE.) He yelled as loud as possible
Robots were swarming to his position he threw another energy shield crashing through three ultron bots and grabbed his real one blocking the immediate gunfire that came his way. He had to get to the stronghold, but it wasn't going to be too easy on his own. Without Pym's coverfire he'd have a hard time getting there and limiting casualties.
James ran and rammed right through two robots using his exceptional strength to just power through them. Another robot behind him shot their laser, but quickly an Arrow was sent straight through its head exploding the robot with ease
James dodged another beam of energy, jumped off the neighbouring car in the street and shot towards the robot spinning before sending an energy shield right through it. At the very least right now, they were still pushing and making good time too.
"GAHH!." James yelled in pain from getting singed by lasers, turning around there were a couple of Ultron ships coming over the city. This would be a cakewalk with Torunn. Instead James created a large energy shield, and quickly deflected the gunfire, it ricocheted hitting buildings causing debris to fall everywhere.
Ultron bots fell from the ships quickly surrounding James, he needed to act quick. He threw his shield at the firsts minigun stopping it before it got a chance to shoot him he dug into his gun holster and pulled out his small energy pistol, taking aim with perfect precision targeting the other's guns, shooting them out before they got a chance to hit him.
"Cap there targeting Civilians." James heard in his comm set. "Down east about a mile out."
"I'll try to get there. I need cover!" James grunted as he took a punch from the Ultron bot, he flipped out and away before sending his shield flying, and it ricocheted around four drones before they exploded into a heap of scrap metal.
James was about to hit the next bot when a blast of yellow energy destroyed the bot "Ask and you shall receive Mr. America!" Pym yelled ecstatically "I've got your back Cap! Go."
James nodded at Pym and ran into a full sprint toward the east part of the city. This was where he was trying to explain to Tony a Motorcycle would be huge.
Still James was faster than the average human, He was supposed to be the peak of human ability, and right now he was doing a good job of showing it running past 30mph with ease. Following the screams of the innocent. Too much since Ultron's demise had he heard that, and he would be damned if he didn't stop it this time.
He hurled his shield and the group of robots crowding and chasing the civilians not letting them move. It seemed the longer they went around Europe the smarter the bots got. "Come on, you don't want to fight them. Fight me!" James demanded catching his shield and using it as a battering ram into the next robots.
"Merci monsieur, merci, merci." A woman blubbered as she ran away with her child.
"Alright the Ultron Revolution in France ends today." James grinned at the robots in front of him. There were around seven of Ultron's weaker lookalike bots. And one tanker with miniguns. He just needed enough time to make sure the families left the area.
Unfortunately the bots didn't think that way and quickly tried to open fire on the families James dove for a man and a little boy, pushing them out of the way before activating his Energy Shield crouching around the family and making it huge protecting them from any cover fire.
He pulled out his energy pistol while holding up his shield and shot around it hitting one of the bots with perfect accuracy, taking out it's guns, before he shot another again. Then he took his second shield and sent it straight through the flying bot and immediately started running and pushed forward with his shield right through the bot in front of him
"Prends ton fils et cours." (Take your son and run) James told the man, to which he nodded and ran off quickly
James touched his comm trying to get in touch with the rest of the team "Barton, Pym. I wanna make a run at the Information Centre."
"Whaddya need Cap?" Pym grunted as he lasered down another robot.
"Barton I want you to keep tailing me from up high, you and I will try and end this. Pym, I want a distraction. Preferably something big. Get the bots focused on you while Barton and I try to hit the killswitch. Try and get out by the coastline."
"Got it Cap. One large distraction, coming right up!" Pym exclaimed he zapped a few robots getting there attention while he was small before dragging them closer to the water and the coastline and turning into Giant-Man and causing an absolute fuss crushing a good amount of robots
"Alright Hawkeye, now's our chance" Cap called and moved toward the center the building was not far at all, only a block or two away, but he needed high ground if they were going to bust through one of the large windows.
James took a look at the neighbouring apartment building, and started climbing up the apartment's balcony, to the top of the building where Francis was already waiting for him. "Alright how do you want to do this Cap?"
"On the 36th floor the command centre for the bots is there. Shoot your grapple as a tether at the window and will bust through."
"36 floor is too far for the grapple. Best I could do is 27th. Maybe." Hawkeye said honestly
"Well then it's going to have to be good enough. How many Arrows do you have?"
"12."
James nodded "Okay, do it." and on his command Francis quickly shot his grapple. James hooked himself onto Francis' line, and jumped first as Francis wouldn't have the strength to bust through the window. He dashed down feet out ready to power through and face a barrage of robots. And he was correct
And James flew through the window he contorted his body to avoid getting hit with a laser to his face before rolling on the ground taking his shield and throwing it right through the first Robot he saw.
He pulled out his pistol destroying the next two robots clearing the room he entered, and waving Hawkeye to come in as the coast was clear
Hawkeye quickly shot his line forward basically flying through the air until he jumped through the window. "Were not going to have much time. The moment we leave this room we are going to be swarmed by bots." Francis grumbled
"That's why we need to get the Killstick to the command centre. The faster we get there the less of a beating we will have to take from these bots." James said with determination "You ready?"
"Let's do it." Hawkeye nodded
James nodded back and got his shield from his back, he placed it front of him and ran to the door crashing right through it.
He flattened a robot but wasted no time looking for the stairs, finding it, and waving Hawkeye along, making sure his teammate was right behind him. They charged up the stairs and Hawkeye fired two arrows taking out the bots two floors ahead of them before Cap even saw them.
They kept running up the stairs and another swarm of bots were coming to their location, James threw his shield at the group before jumping and running on the wall, avoiding a laser, before jumping back toward his ricocheting shield and calmly continuing their advance to the control room.
Turrets came out from the ceiling which James shot with his pistol, and Hawkeye quickly fired off an explosive arrow at the group of Ultron bots blocking the next stairwell, allowing them to keep running towards their target.
"Only 5 more floors!" James yelled through the action, he shot through two more robots and used his energy shield to block the rain of bullets that came down on them deflecting some of them into the Robots using their own weapons against them and advancing to the next floor will ease.
4 more floors. James thought and hurled his energy shield through the next group of bots, and jumpkicked through the door continuing their sprint to their destination. 3 more floors he thought as he threw his shield off the ground causing it to hit the wall before decapitating 2 bots, he didn't even have to think about the next pair as two arrows lodged in each of their guns blowing them up completely. 2 more floors he thought, he hadn't even kicked down the door yet and the bots already shot through for the first time halting their assault. Hawkeye shot another explosive arrow and took out a bot creating enough space for James to push forward. Blocking more bullets with shield before hurling it at the wall making it zig zag and hit the rest of the bots in the room before returning to him
"Okay, that doesn't obey the law of physics at all." Hawkeye called from behind
"Just one more floor!" James called back to him, this was the final stretch. James busted into the final room and they were met once again by tens of bots. Cap immediately extended his energy shield saving Francis and him from becoming swiss cheese "We need to get to the panel in the middle!" James grunted
"I'm down to my last two arrows." Hawkeye checked his quiver "Both regular."
"Take my gun." James commanded, Francis quickly took the pistol from James pouch and put it on his belt "Give me some cover and I'll handle the rest."
Francis nodded and quickly shot his two arrows taking out one of the bots, before grabbing the pistol and shooting that as well. James pushed forward and threw his regular shield at one of the bots. But it was shot away, so he jumped up and threw his energy shield which sliced it in half, he grabbed his regular shield and covered himself, while Hawkeye took out another bot with ease. James used the shield to deflect the laser back at the other bots slicing it in half, and creating his entrance towards the computer. He dashed towards the computer pulling out the Killstick while deflecting from some bullets, he shoulder barged into the last robot on his way to the command centre before jamming the Killstick into the control centre.
Initiating Sequence...1 minute till self-destruct
"Come on!" James yelled and grabbed Hawkeye's arm running towards their 27th floor exit.
"Pym, we could use some help," James tapped his comm as they ran towards their escape route. "Pym?"
"Where do you need me?" Pym asked It was clear the large boy was on the move
"29th floor, I'm going to make our exit, prepare to catch us through the window." James demanded
"What happened to the 27t-
"We're not going to make the 27th." James cut him off "Just be there." James hopped off another wall, and ran through the door they blasted open when the building started exploding from the left over bots that were in the building
"Where's Pym?" Francis yelled "Were not going to make the jump without Pym!"
"Don't worry!" James yelled, the building shook and the wall beside them exploded, but James batted away the debris and gained speed as they got close to the glass once again. 30th floor, it would have to do.
He braced for impact as he crashed through the window and was waving wildly through the air, Hawkeye quickly jumped right after him
"Pym!?" Hawkeye screamed confusedly "PYM!?"
The Giant-Man came from the other side of the building and made a diving effort to catch James and Francis in his hand. Saving them from going splat.
James sighed of relief, thankfully Pym caught them in time. "Cutting it close there Pym."
"Understatement of the year." Francis breathed taking large gasps of air, He laid on his back panting trying to catch his breath "Trying to get me killed Mr. America?"
"Relax, I knew Pym would make it in time." James waved off
"Whatever I'm just saying I'm never jumping off a building with you again unless Torunn is around. At least then I know I won't die by going splat. Though I could also die from lack of weapons since you sent us out here shorthanded." Francis ranted
"Stop whining we won." James muttered "I've never led us wrong before have I? I'm not going to suddenly get bad at my job."
"I'm just saying that-
"Boys." Tony's voice rang through the comms "Shut it down. Do some damage control and head back to the Quinjet. You just finished liberating a nation. Stop fighting."
"Yes sir." James sighed and got off on Pym's oversized hand. He looked around and city was still in relatively good shape, They managed to stay out of the way of the civilians and large buildings. It would be a shame if they ruined it more than the Ultron bots already had.
"Sorry." Francis muttered in his commlink to Tony. He got up as well moving from Pym allowing the boy to go back to regular size. And the three took off moving debris and making sure if anyone had gotten hurt they took them to hospitals
They gave directions, helped put out small fires, and best of all relayed the message that everything was going to be okay. Ultron couldn't hurt them anymore.
James wiped grime and soot from his chin and let out a sigh, this was tiresome, even for the Super Soldier. He watched slowly as a little blonde girl came up to him seemingly dragging her mother as towards the Heroes of Tomorrow
"Plus d'Ultron?" (No more Ultron?) "She asked hesitantly, James smiled and kneeled down to her level and put a comforting hand on her shoulder."Plus d'Ultron. Il est parti maintenant tu es en sécurité." (No more Ultron. He's gone now, you're safe.)
The young girl smiled and hugged James tightly "Merci beaucoup capitaine!" (Thank you very much Captain!)
James couldn't help the smile that came across his face either and he hugged her back"De rien." (Your very welcome)
Francis and Pym couldn't contain the smiles on their faces no matter how long it was taking, liberating a city, an entire country, the feeling would never get old. Seeing the joy on peoples faces, just knowing that they don't have to worry about Ultron anymore was great.
James pulled away from the young girl and stood up dusting himself off "Time to go team. We have a bit of a journey getting back home."
"Aye, aye Captain." Pym saluted jokingly, and Francis just nodded still with a smile on his face. He had been one of these people, desperately hoping someone was going to save them. Especially after his father died. Being able to help and save these people now. It meant something different.
They walked back towards the coastline still helping a little along the way and amassing a large following while they did it. It seemed everyone in Nice wanted to make sure they got to see their liberators off.
"Jocasta please uncloak the Quinjet." Pym called and soon enough the Quinjet caused a lot of talk and laughter around their crowd.
Before they boarded the Quinjet James turned to them one last time and spoke "La revolution Ultron est terminee!" (The Ultron Revolution is over!) He yelled triumphantly to which the crowd yelled back in happiness "Rentrez chez vous dans vos enfants et vos conjoints dans vos bras. Surtout gardez la tête haute. Le travail n'est pas terminé. Restez les uns avec les autres continuez à donner un coup de main. Nous traveser cela plus fort que jamais, ensemble!" (Go home hug your kids and hug your spouses. Most importantly keep your chin up. The work is not done. Stick with each other, continue to lend a helping hand. We will get through this stronger than ever, together!)
The people cheered once more at James inspiring little speech and shouted their name as they boarded the quinjet "Merci Avengers!" some called
"Je vous remercie!" Others called with happiness
Francis, James, and Pym waved from their window at their adoring fans as they took off back to the arctic. When they were out of site they all collapsed down into their seats
"Jocasta, autopilot." Pym sighed tiredly, that was 7 French cities in 72 hours. With just the three of them. It was a big task, and he was wary when James insisted they could do it, but he hadn't been wrong yet.
"What's next Tony?" James sighed, took his shield from his back, proceeded to crack his back, pulled off his gloves, and his helmet but was just too lazy to do anything else. He sat back and closed his eyes. He couldn't lie either. This had been tiring.
Tony's laughter rumbled through the system "You guys are done for the night. Relax I'm going to remote pilot the ship from here. You kids should get some rest."
"Are Torunn and Azari back?" James asked tiredly
"Azari yes, Torunn no. She might be back around the time you guys come though." Tony answered
"Alright then boss man." Francis took off his quiver and put his bow to the side. "I am definitely taking a rest, and the next time James wants us to do this shorthanded, I am definitely saying no."
"That's alright." Tony laughed "you guys earned it, Banner and I are working on something, I'll call you later if you're still asleep when it's time to land. Tony out."
And with that the three heroes surrendered to sleep, dreaming of a better tomorrow
ARCTIC CIRCLE, BIODOME - UTC 22:18
"Landing in 3 minutes." Tony's voice called throughout the quinjet.
His voice quickly shook the three boys out of their sleep. It wasn't often they got to sleep this long, it was nice, even if it was in the quinjet.
"Finally." Francis stood with a yawn "Only took seven hours." He strapped his quiver back on and grabbed his bow, he couldn't wait to sleep in a real bed. Maybe even grab some late night grub.
Pym rubbed his eyes and stretched as well "Oh man you guys think Torunn is back?" he asked quietly
"Who knows Pym." Francis sighed "Seems like everytime she goes to Asgard now, she takes a little longer to get back. Won't be too long before she's not coming back at all."
"Can you relax? Torunn isn't staying in Asgard." James said annoyedly. He moved from his seat as well, getting up and strapping his shield to his back, his helmet was also loose as well the strap laid around his neck and it rested on his back. He gripped his hands back and forth, just a little tense from all the fighting recently, and maybe because he was a little anxious to see Torunn.
"Whatever you say Cap'n." Francis said lazily, James rolled his eyes annoyed to admit that Francis was actually getting under his skin. It wasn't even a big deal.
"Dropdown sequence initiating. Successful dropdown in 10..9..8..7..6..5..4..3..2..1..Dropdown complete. Welcome home boys." Tony said happily through the system "The Scavengers are awaiting your arrival outside and are ready to escort you to the compound."
"Alright Tony." James responded "Come on guys." he opened the hatch to the Quinjet.
As they exited the Quinjet the Scavengers were lined up on each side of the entryway. The Scavengers themselves had gone through many upgrades over the years. They went from wearing pieces of Ultron tech over their heads to wearing actual navy blue, utilitarian style suits, based on Kevlar-based ballistic components. Fire resistant, blast resistant, they had patches that had an S on them for Scavengers. They were outfitted with energy blasters, EMPs, Incapacitating Cartridge Emitting Railguns. Or ICERS for short. Freeze Guns, Energy Shields. Whatever they needed to get the job done. They were now as close to a legitimate Black Ops unit America had seen in nearly 15 years.
"Captain." One spoke
"Cap'n." Another gave his respect
"Cap." another addressed
"Mr. America." the voices grew louder as they exited the Quinjet.
"Captain." Another repeated.
James let out a small breath and nodded at all the Scavengers as they walked by. It felt natural leading his friends, but being so looked up to by the Scavengers, the idea that he was always supposed to have a plan to save them and save the day? It was stressful. He was a 16 year old kid, what had he done to deserve to be called 'Captain' by grown men and women? To be treated with such respect...It was Uncanny
"Oh come on guys, don't tell me you forgot about Ol Hawkeye?" Francis called out as they walked by "Seriously I mean, I used to lead as well!"
That brought a few laughs from the Scavengers, and some greetings of "Hey Hawkeye." or "Relax Barton. Or just showing our respects, Hawkeye."
"Yeah, yeah." Francis muttered. Soon enough they finally passed all of the Scavengers but one diligently followed them
"What's the word Agent Johnson?" James asked. Agent Daisy Johnson. One of the few Scavengers that were actually under 18, around they're age. She had quickly risen up the rankings, demolishing her training and showing that she was clearly one of the smartest Scavengers out there.
"Not much Captain." Daisy began "Like Mr. Stark told you Black Panther has come back from his scouting missions in the Middle East and the Savage Lands. You probably want to hear it from him but from what I've heard Tony has sanctioned the Savage Lands assignment. You should be good to go."
"Good, any time frame when we can head out? I'd like to know s-
"With all due respect Captain." Daisy said honestly "You just got back from a long mission in Europe. You should take a break. You've earned it."
"Someone gets it." Hawkeye muttered
"We'll consider it." James sighed "Any news on the efforts in Virginia?"
"Revival efforts have been good. It's starting to look more like the city they talked about 15 years ago, still going to be sometime." Daisy relayed
"And...New York?" James asked slowly
A sigh escaped Daisy's lips, she seemed hesitant to say anything "You...you should talk to Stark and Banner."
James nodded "That will be all then." He dismissed her. Daisy nodded and left them, leaving the three to enter the compound on their own. That wasn't the greatest news. New York City wasn't getting better. And it felt like there was nothing he could do to stop it.
"Relax James. We're going to fix everything. Rome wasn't built in a day." Pym told his friend
James didn't say anything just scanned his hand on the door waiting for clearance to enter. Access Granted, Rogers, James. Welcome. Barton, Francis. Welcome. Henry, Pym. Welcome.
The compound was an expansion of their base in the Biodome. After the Iron Avengers smashed through and destroyed a lot of things with Ultron, when they got back Tony decided it was a good time for upgrades. Especially now that he could do a lot more without Ultron looming over his head.
The team was only bound to get older and the bungalows were pretty small, so Tony scrapped them and created enough space to place the Compound. A large building that was good for residence, conferencing, multiple workshops and labs, lounges, kitchen, offices, gym, shooting range, rehabilitation room, Hangar, Storage, anything the team needed resided in this building. And this was just mainly for the Avengers.
There had been a somewhat smaller facility built that just held rooms for the entirety of the Scavengers who wanted to stay here. Some said no, because who wanted to live in the fucking Arctic Circle. Others said no because they were done fighting. And some said yes because the fight wasn't done yet, and sure Ultron was gone but the world wasn't the same. Not yet and until it was how could they stop fighting?
One reason was valid however. They were working on a way to get people from the Arctic to other cities faster. It was a tall task that they didn't really have time for. Sometimes it felt like they didn't have time for anything.
"Hey FRIDAY?" Pym called invoking the AI's name. Soon enough she showed up in her holographic form, a short redheaded woman with a bright smile "How can I help you Henry?"
"Where's Azari?" Pym asked
"Azari has just left Tony's lab and is heading for the conference room, It seems Tony and Dr. Banner will be joining him shortly."
"Thanks FRI." Pym called to the AI who disappeared with a smile "Come on guys let's go."
"Oh man Pym." Francis yawned "We just saved a whole country in like 3 days. Can we get a break, for at least, like, 5 seconds?"
"After we talk to Azari. It's best we sleep on whatever he has to tell us. While we're all still in mission mode anyway." James said before following Pym down the long corridor
"Mission mode? I left mission mode 8 hours ago." Francis muttered but followed anyway, Pym scanned his hand and they entered the room where Azari was sitting in his designated seat drumming his fingers against the table, he got up and smiled however when he saw his friends
"Pym, James, Francis. I assume the France mission was successful?" He greeted his friends with a smile
"As successful as a shorthanded liberation could be." James sighed "Finished 7 cities in 72 hours."
"Sorry. But you're going to be happy when I tell you my scouting mission was successful. Savage Lands are basically a wash. And a couple Scavengers and I checked out Canada they're doing just fine. The rebuild is truly on."
"So we can finally go to the Savage Lands?" Pym beamed "Finally it's not like we've been prepping this mission for 2 years or anything."
"Yeah well let's relax. We still need to talk it through." A new voice entered the conversation. Tony came in with Jocasta who was holding boxes of food that seemed to be Mexican. Banner walked in after them both. They quickly took there seats at the conference table while Jocasta handed them food
"Oh thanks Jocasta. Do I ever tell you you're the best?" Francis smiled as he took a whiff of his food
"Yes, and everytime it is true." The AI smiled cockily
"Thank you Jocasta." James nodded at the robot woman, but he was still focused on the two empty seats at the conference table.
Suddenly everyone jumped back a little as Vision came phasing through the ground and took his seat at the conference table.
"I will never get used to that." Francis decided "Never."
Tony laughed "Hey Vision, would it kill you to use the door next time?"
"I very well could, but then we wouldn't get to see Hawkeye's priceless reaction." Vision decided
"Great, I swear everyone has it out for me." Francis said through mouthfuls of rice.
"Except Me." Jocasta said
"Except you." Francis agreed
"Alright well...nearly everyone is here." Tony started talking again "I know Torunn is missing, but it's late and you four need rest."
To say the team was disappointed was an understatement. Torunn was their family. They stuck together through everything, but it seemed with every passing day, Asgard was becoming her focus.
"Sounds good." Azari spoke up for the four of them. But for James it was anything but good. They were short as it was, and it was undeniable that Torunn was their powerhouse. Without her they were not the same team.
Banner wasted no time however in diverting their minds to the next problem. "The Savage Lands were one of the places that were untouched by Ultron's rule. However after we defeated Ultron Tony, didn't think it was necessary to go check it out. As it was dangerous and you were all too young."
"Allegedly." Azari pointed out with a laugh. In his mind, they could have done it. What were a couple of monsters going to do to them when they just took out Ultron?
"Allegedly." Bruce rolled his eyes in mock annoyance, he had really come close to these kids. He felt like they knew him better than anyone else in his previous life. "Regardless it's now become a necessity. It will come to no surprise to you all that we are stretched thin…"
"Understatement." James chimed in "There are 8 of us with powers. 7 when you realize that Tony can't go out in the suit because he's a hazard."
"Ouch kid." Tony smirked but it lacked the usual playfulness, as this was a conversation that kept coming up between them "But you realize we have the Iron Legion."
"The Iron Legion can't cut it." James insisted "People see those robots, and they freak Tony. 15 years ago maybe people associated robots with Tony Stark: The Invincible Iron Man. Now? All they see is the robot tyrant who killed millions. People rather work on their own then take help from the bots. And it's why we just cleaned out 7 cities by ourselves in 72 hours."
"He's right Tony." Francis said seriously "Those people were fine when they saw us. Then they saw the Legion and they'd just...like James said freak. I mean grown men screaming and crying, children bawling their eyes out crying for their parents. Unless you can show them there is a person in there, they don't want to see it."
"Yes, that's why you're going to the Savage Land." Banner steered the conversation back "We realize that as strong as Ultron was it'd be hard for him to legitimately take out every single hero. Now some have been confirmed, but still…Everyone? We don't believe that to be the case. We believe some went into hiding. Ultron didn't take the entirety of Europe until 2 years ago, and even then he had just barely done before you stopped him. The chances that heroes left the USA and resumed their new lives in Asia, Europe, Africa, places that Ultron didn't take are high."
"Begs the question, why we haven't heard from anyone. In the past 2 years not a single hero has been heard from. Not one." Azari added
"That is true. But some people probably don't want to be found." Tony told them
"That and the fact that even though we stopped Ultron, we were 13 years too late. Most of America is a shithole. We live in the Arctic Circle for pete's sake!" Francis fumed
"Well we think we've got our first track on a hero." Bruce continued and pulled up a file on the screen. It was a man with a bit of an unruly haircut. His black hair in Duck's Tail style. With a big beard alongside his face. He was a short man in a yellow and blue costume, and he had a lopsided grin on his face. The feature that made him stand out? The three claws protruding from each of his hands.
"James Howlett. Though he preferred Logan, and when he was working, The Wolverine." Bruce explained "A formidable opponent even for the Hulk. His bones are coated in the strongest metal on earth Adamantium. Can cut through everything, except Adamantium and Vibranium."
"And he's a mutant, like Azari." Pym added
"Correct, his mutations gave him those claws. And quite possibly the most potent healing factor the world has ever seen, there hasn't been a thing he hasn't shown he couldn't regenerate from."
"And he was one of the X-Men right?" Francis asked
"Yes." Tony answered
"Still don't understand why those punks didn't try and stop Ultron. Maybe if they did we wouldn't have to find this Logan guy." Francis muttered angrily
"Any specific reason we're going for this one?" James asked
"We're looking for Logan because we believe he knows where the other X-Men are. And if he can find the X-Men were hoping they would come and join the cause. Help the fight." Tony jumped in
"Opposed to them just not doing it now?" James questioned "So what happens if we don't find Logan? That's a deadend. Or what happens if we find him, and he has no clue where the X-Men are. His file here says he has the tendency to be a loner. There's a good chance he hasn't seen em in years. Better yet, what if we find the X-Men. And we tell them about the defeat of Ultron, ask for help in rebuilding and they say no? What do we do then? Because all of that seems more likely than the X-Men jumping out to save us."
"Young James has a point." Vision said
"James it's one of the best leads we've had in years." Tony sighed
"We need to stop chasing leads. If it's going to take us two years to find one X-Men we shouldn't look for them anyway. We need more superheroes. We need our own way of identifying people with powers. How is it that we haven't seen a new mutant in ages? You told me that the Mutant population had been on a steady rise since they had been found. It should be higher than ever right now. Instead were starved to find one hero. Out in the Savage Lands." James ranted angrily
"Calm down James." Azari told his friend "They are doing their best."
"It's not so easy to just calm down!" James said through gritted teeth. But the focus was no longer on that, but the large rainbow colored light that flashed outside of the building lightly causing the ground to shake, By now everyone knew what it was.
"Torunn!" Pym shouted with excitement. Sure enough even from inside the Compound they could see the Asgardian girl. She had started flying, and she'd be there in any second.
The whole group had got up to meet her at the door and right when she got there, Pym was the first to engulf her in a hug "Torunn, your home."
She smiled and embraced her little 'brother' "I'm happy to see you to Pym." next was Azari who laughed happily as he embraced his older sister. Then Francis came and gave a hug to his old fling, and lastly was James. "James, you've got taller. Almost as tall as me yet!" Torunn teased
"Hi Torunn." James mumbled, but he couldn't deny he was happy to see her. But he still couldn't shake that feeling of mission mode. So he quickly went to his seat and waited for Torunn to do the same. James continued his spiel while Torunn was briefed by Vision
"Look Tony, Bruce, I know we're doing our best. All I'm saying is we need something that's...concrete. Where spread thin. Desperately thin. The Scavengers are best when together not apart. The Avengers are effective but anytime now we're gonna suffer from burnout. We've still got 30% of Europe waiting for our help. Central and South America are still waiting on relief efforts. Even Canada while doing better than the rest are struggling. And then there is our own struggle."
"Look I understand James. But the way to find Mutants before was using Cerebro. A helmet created by Charles Xavier that could identify Mutants. Unfortunately you need to be a telepath to use that. We've got something cooking and were hoping it will work but right now this is the best we can do."
James sighed and didn't say anything, It sucked but it was true. There wasn't anything they could do but they wanted to help.
"How fast can we get Mission prep done?" James asked
"Depending on how tired you guys are. We can send you off in 3 days. It's not a large mission. And it shouldn't take more than 24 hours."
"Alright, meeting adjourned?" Azari asked
"No," Tony said, "There's one last thing...Vision has been scouting on the lookout as you know in various countries. And by the looks of it we might have a problem. There have been talks of wanting to move in for America by countries in Asia. Mainly Madripoor, as they feel America is ripe for the taking."
"You can't be serious." Francis deadpanned
"What!?" Pym yelled confused
"Really?" Azari questioned
"I can't believe it!" Torunn yelled angrily "How come?"
"Because people will always want power, and they see a chance to grab one of the most profitable countries in the world. Even when we're like this."
"They realize if it weren't for us, they were next on Ultron's hit list?" James questioned angrily, how could they add this over everything they were already going through.
"Yeah, and they'll say thanks by being good dictators." Banner spat angrily
"It's all speculative talk right now. They know we've still got some heroes, and we won't go down easy, but they understand that is a once in a lifetime chance." Tony explained
"Hitting your enemy when they're already down, cowards move." Torunn said angrily
"Surely other countries wouldn't let it happen." Azari reasoned
"No one knows what to do with us right now." Tony explained "This type of domination. Was unprecedented. And yeah we've done our best to help, but no one wants to get into another war. The feeling seems to be: If someone wants to take America, let them try it...It can't be as bad as Ultron."
BANG! James slammed the table "This can't happen. Look America is a mess but this is avoidable. Look we need a man in charge...or a woman." James fixed at Torunn's glare "We need someone who will speak up for us, or we're screwed. We need our President, our government, unfortunately it's been in shambles for a while. But this, this is where Tony you take control.
"Wha-what?" Tony sputtered
"Yes Tony, think about it. Who saved everyone from Ultron, who is basically keeping America afloat with his technology?Who is sending relief not just to different parts of the US, but the Americas, and Europe too! Only you are doing it Tony. You can be the face of the US and shut this all down."
"I also created Ultron." Tony counters
"No one knows that. We have to do what's in our best interests." James insisted
"Let's not rush anything. Okay?" Tony asked firmly "We told you about this because you're the Avengers now, this is stuff unfortunately you have to deal with. One at a time. If you're going to be freaking out then next time Banner and I will know not to tell you anything. I want your focus on the Savage Land mision alright? Get some rest, we can talk more later. But for now it's late and I think you've done more than enough for today." Tony announced
His word was basically gospel around these parts, so slowly and hesitantly they all got up to leave the conference room. James with a lot of thoughts on his mind. A hand landed on his shoulder and he turned to see Torunn.
"Relax James. We will figure this out, like we always do."
James sighed and nodded, but as he entered his quarters he couldn't help but think one thing. Things just got messy for the Heroes of Tomorrow didn't they?