Avengers: Age of Ultron | Saviors | The Cradle
"The cellular cohesion will take a few hours," Dr. Cho explains, plugging away at the keyboard attached to the cradle. Her eyes are a sparkling baby blue color, one that is very similar to when Loki would possess ordinary people to do his bidding. Ultron used that idea to his advantage to get the Doctor on his side, to make his perfect body.
Inside the cradle, a body mixed with human tissue and Vibranium are being connected together - the two substances are mixing, so a body with the same power and strength like the American heroes shields are. Little lasers are making their way around the new body, shaping it just how Ultron dreamed of.
Dr. Cho goes over to Ultron who's sitting down on one of the tables, she's fixing a thick wire to his head that connects to the new body. This is how Ultron is going to transform all his wonderful personality traits into the new body. "But we can initiate the consciousness stream." After attaching is complete, she saunters back over to the cradle. "We're uploading your cerebral matrix…now." A beep sounds, and a little diagram appears on the screen behind her. A progress bar to see where they are at.
Just then, Wanda and Pietro wander into the room to see what's happening.
Pietro stays close to the door but his twin moves a little closer to the cradle, her head tilting in wonder. Her eyes peel on the cradle, her lip twitches into a near smile as she stares at the new being created inside. "I can read him," she says, her accent evident in her words. "He's…dreaming." She can't get a full hold on a reading, but it isn't like with Ultron. She literally can't read his mind because of the fact that he's some kind of robot, but with this thing being part human, that must be why she can read it.
"I wouldn't call it dreams," Cho retorts in a factual manner, not looking up from her keyboard. "It's Ultron's base consciousness. Informational noise. Soon-" Ultron cuts her off with a question.
"How soon?" Ultron perks his head over to her, but he doesn't look demanding - just curious. "I'm not being pushy," he assures.
"We're imprinting a physical brain," Cho tells him. As she speaks Wanda begins to inch towards the cradle, she wants to see what this being is 'dreaming' about. "There are no shortcuts."
"But even with your magic gem…" Wanda blocks out everyone in the room, placing her hands on top of the cradle. She closes her eyes with a small tilt to her head, finding the connection that will let her see into the new being's head. And she gets it, but it isn't something she was expecting at all. The painful vision of their Earth being blown up cascades through her body, she can feel the pain that comes along with it. With a start, she throws herself away from the cradle with a pained scream. Pietro, who's still at the door, rushes to her side.
Pietro tries to calm her down as she pants. "What is it?" He whispers. Gently grabbing her face to see what the matter is; she's panting as though she has run a couple of miles.
But she ignores him, turning her head towards Ultron with shock and disbelief. "How could you?" Her voice breaks. She feels her brother wrap his arm around her, feeling her distress.
Ultron tilts his head with confusion, although he has an inkling already to what she may have seen. "How could I what?"
Pietro is confused but stays silent. "You said that we would destroy the Avengers…" she says in a hard tone, but the pain is still there. "Make a better world."
"It will be better," Ultron tells her, not countering his defense.
There's a moment of silence until Wanda speaks again, her tone this time is full of mistrust but a link of anger mixed in. "When everyone is dead?!" Pietro's eyes widen, he looks down at his sister's face. She's completely - dead serious.
"That is not-!" Ultron starts to make out his defense, his voice nearly booming. But, he pauses for a moment before continuing. "The human race will have every opportunity to improve."
Pietro is the one to speak, this time, still having a hard time believing what he imagined his twin had seen. "And if they don't." Directing his words towards Ultron.
"Ask Noah," the blunt reply comes.
Pietro holds his sister just a little bit tighter, having the small feeling inside that it won't be safe for them here anymore. There is no way either of them are going to agree to help Ultron now if it'll mean the world ending; all they want is to rid the world of the Avengers. Tony Stark in particular more than anyone else.
"You're a madman," Wanda looks at him with a different light - they were tricked into helping him essentially. Suddenly it comes to her, Ultron is worse than the Avengers, worse than Stark - she knows they can't stay here anymore. They have to get away.
Ultron ignores her words, because they are technically true. "There were more than a dozen extinction-level events before even the dinosaurs got theirs." It's almost like he's trying to get them to understand, to realize that this is the path they need to take. "When the Earth starts to settle, God throws a stone at it. And, believe me, he's winding up."
"We have to evolve," Ultron's eyesight goes down to his creation being born inside the cradle. "There's no room…for the weak."
While Ultron isn't looking, Wanda secretly moves her hand towards Dr. Cho, sending a small wave of her energy to stop the scepter's power over the doctor. Helen's eyes slowly turn from a bright blue back to their original color - she's no longer being controlled by Ultron.
"And who decides who's weak?" Pietro keeps Ultron's attention away from his sister, realizing what she's doing. But he still can't help but stare at the machine in disbelief.
Ultron doesn't look up, just chuckles. "Life," but then he does, staring the twins right in the eye. "Life always decides." Suddenly, his head perks up but not in a good way - he can hear one of those Heli crafts approaching. He snarls with annoyance. "There's incoming."
Pietro turns around, going back to hold his sister tightly - knowing he might have to get them out of there quickly because no doubt, the Avengers are coming. And strangely, they don't mind - Ultron needs to be stopped, they see that now. He kisses the side of his sister's head, letting her know she'll be okay - they both will.
"The QuinJet," Ultron utters, realizing who is approaching - knowing he needs to get his vision cradle out of here before those Avengers mess anything up. "We have to move."
"That's not a problem," Dr. Cho states, pretending she's still under his will - knowing what needs to be done, even if it gets her killed in the process. She needs to buy the Avengers time - she can't let Ultron win. She moves over to the keyboard attached to the cradle, typing in a few phrases and after a second - Ultron makes a groan of annoyance, seeing the pause in the uploading process. Looking at her eyes, they are her regular brown ones again - no longer the bright blue he made them become earlier.
Without a second thought, Ultron lifts his mechanical arm towards Helen, shooting out a red beam to her chest that sends her flying back into the wall, now furiously bleeding from her body. Wanda gasps in horror and before she can even comprehend what has happened, Pietro has already whisked them out of the building - needing to keep his twin safe from Ultron. That machine is now the enemy, just like Stark is. The other Avengers on the other hand…they are in doubt about them.
"Wait, guys!" Ultron calls after them desperately, feeling alone now but knows he can't stop them because they are already gone. The other Ultron bots that are keeping Helen's workers in line begin shooting the remaining people in the room, not even giving them a chance to scream for help. Ultron doesn't want to leave any sign of life as they get ready to leave the building.
As the humans die in the other room, Ultron's gaze falls down to the cradle - he begins petting with almost an adoration. "They'll understand," he muses to himself. "When they see, they'll understand," he reaches to the back of his head, disconnecting himself to the uploading system. "I just need a little more time."
…
"Two minutes…stay close," Steve's voice sounds from the speaker inside the QuinJet, talking to Ava, Natasha, and Barton who are still inside the carrier. Steve and Bucky were momentarily dropped off at the building where Dr. Cho would be working, and where the Cradle is supposed to be held.
…
Bucky and Steve are running down the hallways, heading towards Dr. Cho's laboratory space - and when they enter the large room full of equipment, they are caught by the sight of several dead bodies and a missing cradle.
"Dr. Cho!" Bucky exclaims, seeing the familiar woman lopsided against the wall with blood practically spewing out of her chest. She's still moving, but panting with the pain riddling her body. Steve runs to her side first, kneeling down before trying to stop the bleeding - she winces, tears of agony rolling down her cheeks.
Bucky grabs a white cloth from the side, giving it to Steve who quickly uses it to try and halt the bleeding. Helen gasps with pain, feeling the pressure being put on her body - she looks up to the two with muddles eyes, trying really hard to keep her focus in check before she passes out again.
"He's uploading himself into the body," she tells him, guilt leaking into her words. She knows her mind and body has no physical control when Ultron possesses her mind, but it still feels like it's her fault this is happening.
"Where?" Bucky demands lightly, not wanting to sound pushy but at any moment she could faint - they need to know where that cradle has gone, Ultron needs to be stopped from putting himself into that body. It'll make him basically invincible if he's able to accomplish his task.
Helen slowly shakes her head - she doesn't know.
Steve is about to get up, but she grabs his arm - getting him to look back at her. She looks at him with terrified eyes. "The real power is inside the Cradle," she tells him, swallowing her pain. "T-the gem," she coughs. "It's power is uncontainable…you can't just blow it up." She looks between both American Heroes. "You-you have to get the cradle to Stark."
"But first, we have to find it," Bucky muses, looking at Steve - they need to think like Ultron if they are going to have any luck finding that cradle.
Helen nods shakily. "G-go," she pushes them. The cradle is much more important than her life, especially when the object can level the city if something tries to get rid of it the wrong way. Then they will all die if that happens.
…
"Did you guys copy that?" Bucky is the one to speak through this time.
Clint nods to himself, even though only the two women behind him can actually see him do it. "We did," he confirms, piloting the QuinJet a little higher in the air.
In the back, Natasha is going through all the aircrafts that have taken off in the last couple of hours, searching profusely to see if any birds have left the ground without prior planning and logging. Avery, on the other hand, is darting through dozens of cameras around the building the cradle was in with Helen. She doesn't believe Ultron will fly out with the cradle - he'd try and trick them as much as he can, but in a rush, she's sure a mistake would have been made. That's why she's looking for any trucks that may have come from the lab, it makes the most sense to The Winter Soldier side of her. The Winter Soldier is a pure hunter in that sense.
"I've got a private jet taking off across town," Natasha tells the two, spotting what she has been looking for - there has only been one plane that doesn't have a flight plan, but the one she found doesn't seem right to her. "No manifest."
"No," Ava muses to herself, shaking her head slowly but still makes her words towards the redhead. "It's not him." And then, she finally gets what she's looking for - there's a large forty-foot truck heading towards one of the main highways pretty much passing just below them.
Bingo.
Without looking up from the screen, she shouts, "Barton! There's a truck from the lab just passing under us. That's him!" The two women are pretty far back in the jet so speaking loud is a given.
A few seconds later, "I got it!" He calls back to them, starting his internal scanner to see who or what is inside the truck - wanting to be sure, but it does feel like the right kind of thing to him that Ultron will be hiding in.
Clint presses a button next to him, turning on his communication again. "Right above you, Cap, Sarge. In a truck, on the loop by the bridge."
Ava gets up from her seat, heading towards the front of the jet. She looks at the screen after the internal view has finished loading up. "There's three of them with the cradle, boys," she tells Steve and Bucky. "There's another in the cab."
Clint flicks on a switch. "I could take out the driver."
"No!" Ava immediately tells him from his side, knowing all too well what could happen if he does just that. "You heard what Helen said - that gem could level the city with a blast like that hitting it."
"Exactly," Bucky agrees with her from the other end. "We need to draw out Ultron." His tone already indicates that he has a plan - one that Steve will agree on by the sounds of it.
Ava narrows her eyes at the speaker, hearing that tone. "If you're thinking of doing what I think you're doing, then be careful, the both of you," she warms them, but there's a small playful note to her tone. Already guessing what they are about to do.
Bucky chuckles on the other end. "Yes, Ma'am."
…
As soon as Bucky and Steve make it to the loop where the truck was a couple of seconds ago, they literally jump off the bridge and onto the truck below - timing it just right so they land on the roof of it.
Inside, Ultron looks up, hearing two loud thumps - wishing these idiots will just leave him and his invention alone. "No, no, no, no." He keeps repeating to himself, getting pissed off. He can hear continuous movement on top; where Bucky and Steve are maneuvering themselves towards the end of the truck, towards the double doors.
When the movements go to the double doors, Ultron narrows his mechanical eyes with anger. "Leave me alone!" He yells like a child wanting his parents to leave him alone to play with his toys. He shoots out the same beam he used to severely injure Helen, directing his power towards the doors - hoping that he'll knock the two American heroes off them before getting run over by the several cars behind them.
But his luck didn't account for that, they were able to hold on to the scraps of the doors. Bucky on one and Steve on the other. Another beam shoots out, and the doors are now dragging on the ground, but they still hang on.
"Well," Steve grunts, gripping the door hard so he doesn't fall off and into the road - he can see Bucky doing the same. "He's definitely not happy," he comments. He glances over to Bucky, who nods at him, obviously thinking the same thing as him. "We're gonna try and keep him that way."
A second later Clint replies, "Neither of you are a match for him, Cap." His reply is blunt, but there's a tinge of worry that can only be noticed by a well-trained hearer.
Bucky pants, scoffing. "Well, thanks, Barton," he says with his voice full of sarcasm.
…
"Nat and I'll get ready to go," Avery tells Barton, making her way out of the pilot room - not wanting to leave her boys alone too long, because like Barton said - they don't stand too much of a chance against Ultron on their own. And that cradle needs to be sorted out - so the plan is for her to help the boys while Natasha focuses on the cradle, getting it away from Ultron while the metal man himself is kept busy.
The QuinJet weaves in and out of several glass buildings, flying towards Ultron, Bucky, and Steve.
…
Bucky and Steve flip themselves back onto the top of the truck just as Ultron appears in front of them. They are driving through the city now, having been thrown around a couple of times already.
"You know what's in that cradle?" Ultron asks rhetorically. He shoots two beams out of his hands, but they connect with the two shields attached to both the American heroes' back. "The power to make real change, and that terrified you."
Bucky scoffs. "I wouldn't call it a comfort," he retorts, just as he and Steve simultaneously throw their shields at the machine.
…
Natasha punches a code into a keyboard, activating a small room to the side. The doors opens, revealing the transportation the two women will be taking. Ava nods at them approvingly, liking them, a lot.
"Now that's a ride," she comments to herself, attaching her handgun to her belt while flexing her metal arm to get it ready for some much-needed action. The Winter Soldier in her is edging for a fight.
Natasha smirks, nodding her head at them too. "I know, right?"
Clint flicks another switch, lowering himself to the ground just enough but making sure he doesn't hit any of the buildings beside him. "We've got a window," he tells the two back there, using the intercom and knowing that his loud voice won't hit them over the under door they have just opened. They are ready to go. "Four…three…"
…
"Give him hell," Barton's last words come through the speaker just as Avery and Natasha drop to the ground, riding identical motorcycles that can move up to very fast speeds. The two speed off instantly after leaving the aircraft, weaving in and out of the traffic going their way - Barton flies back up in the air as they disappear down the street.
Avery suddenly chuckles under her breath, seeing something familiar up ahead - Steve's shield. "Well, isn't this Deja-vu," she muses, remembering all the times she picked up something after her brother. 'Just like old times,' she thinks to herself.
As they come up to the shield, Ava drops her arm down and grabs it - securing it in her grip. Natasha keeps close to her, knowing that they need to stick together.
"They're heading under the overpass," Clint's voice comes through in their earpieces. "I've got no shot."
"Which way?" Natasha answers back, speaking loudly. At the speed they're going, the wind creates a disturbance in her speech, making talking loudly a necessity.
"Hard right." Natasha and Ava prepare to follow his instructions since having a birds-eye view has its great advantages. "Now." And so they do, they turn a hard right into a small connecting road, almost hitting an oncoming car - but luckily with skill, they don't.
People around them are watching with wide eyes, because not only are they speeding, but they are driving those motorcycles like they want to die. This can be shown by how they keep nearly crashing into things, but narrowly miss them at the very end.
About a minute later, they are traveling down a narrow alleyway and luckily for them, the truck they are looking for is just passing them. But in order to stop themselves from crashing into the side of the moving vehicle, they skid underneath, the bottom of the truck nearly grazing the tops of their heads.
They can see Bucky fighting two of the lackey Ultron bots while Steve is getting choked by the real Ultron. "Steve!" Ava shouts from below, driving just next to the truck - he glances over the side of his shoulder the best he can, and just in time to catch the shield she throws up to him. He smashes the edge of his shield into Ultron's arm, disconnecting the strangling strategy.
Ultron flies off him, but when he gets the chance, he uses his power to stop the two women from following - he does this by breaking off a part of the road before lifting the large piece up off the ground. Natasha and Avery have to skid to a stop in order to avoid crashing into it. The truck continues down the street; Steve starts to fight with Ultron again while Bucky throws one of the Ultron lackeys off the roof.
Ava and Natasha begin to gear up their bikes again, speeding past the broken rock that is in front of them.
…
"Barton, can you draw you out the guards?" Ava calls into her headpiece as she and Natasha speed down a flight of stairs, narrowly missing several people. They have to take the short-cut in order to get back to the truck - they are running out of time to get the cradle away from Ultron before he makes his escape.
If Clint can get those two guards up to him instead of them keeping Bucky busy, Natasha can use her chance in getting the cradle.
"I'll see what I can do," his reply comes swiftly, and towards the distance, they watch as the QuinJet appears above the truck. Clint begins shooting towards Ultron himself, making sure not to hit either Steve or Bucky. And the plan works - the two that were originally fighting with Bucky, fly up in the air towards the QuinJet.
As Clint takes care of them, Bucky goes back to helping Steve with Ultron. Ava and Natasha, on the other hand, are speeding down a road where they are going the absolute wrong way - traffic-wise.
As they are meters away from the truck, Ava suddenly feels herself fly off her motorcycle and smash into the train that has been passing them. Her body falls through the air, her arm hitting the train's side first - she literally ripped through the side, crashing into a metal chair within. Another one of the Ultron bots threw her in there - one they missed during the counting.
Natasha gasps when this happens, but something inside of her tells her that the woman will be okay - so she continues with the mission. Just when she's close enough, she watches as Ultron throws Bucky and Steve into the moving train as well.
But she ignores this because her mission to get that cradle away from Ultron is exactly what she's going to do.
…
Ava hears screams around her when she gets herself up from the ground and she doesn't even get a chance to assess the situation because she's thrown against the wall, again. She grunts at the impact, beginning to get very pissed that she's being thrown around like a rag doll.
Looking up, she sees the Ultron bot heading her way again, but she stops it by getting out her gun, emptying the mag into its core, similar to the place that killed the ones back at the Stark tower, way before all this started.
The bot falls down to the ground with a thump, dying.
"I'm going in," Natasha's voice sparks through her earpiece, but it's scattered - the fact that Ava was thrown through the train wall probably messed with it a great deal. "Sarge, Cap, can you keep him occupied?"
"What do you think we've been doing?" Bucky's static reply comes through with the same sarcasm he used with Barton earlier, but Ava can hear a grunt in his voice. A crash sounds further on down the train as she gets her bearings back together. 'They must be on board too,' Ava thinks to herself, quickly heading towards that way with a throbbing pain radiating from her human arm. Just because she survived being thrown through a metal wall, doesn't mean it didn't hurt.
…
Avery comes in just as Ultron is about to strike her brother in the gut, and to stop him, she grabs Ultron's arm with her own metal hand, throwing him backwards towards the way she came from. The unexpected act didn't give him a chance to stop her from doing so.
Bucky is over to the side, fighting to get up; there's another large hole in the metal wall - meaning the two probably had the same welcoming to the train as she did. "Ava," he breathes, relieved that she's okay as he struggles to stand. He watches as the bot throw her into the train and ripped through the side, it worried him greatly. But seeing her standing there, he's feeling better already.
Steve is also happy to see her okay, but he doesn't get the chance to say anything because Ultron begins advancing on them again. At least, until something whooshes past everyone, knocking not only the three of them over but elbowing Ultron back into the wall. The person who did this is Pietro.
Ultron is confused, about the advance on Pietro this time but is stopped by red flashing bars that stop him from doing so. Wanda is using her powers at the other end of the train cubicle.
Ultron looks between the younger twins desperately. "Please," he pleads, wanting them back on his side. "Don't do this."
"What choice do we have?" Wanda replies as a retort - helping the Avengers is better than helping Ultron and his ultimate destruction plan.
Ultron growls under his breath, frustrated. He lifts his arm once again in the direction of Pietro; the younger boy's eyes widen and he zooms off just as Ultron shoots out the beam. But instead of just hitting the wall, it goes through to the driver's seat - killing the woman driving instantly while a large hole is blasted into the front window. After his job is complete, he flies out of the gigantic hole he cam in with the two American heroes, disappearing.
"We lost him," Steve speaks into his earpiece, signaling to Clint and Natasha. He just over people with Bucky by his side, moving over to the driver to see if she's alive. But everyone can tell just by the injuries that she isn't, there's blood everywhere - more than Dr. Cho. Now, this train is moving without a driver and there's no way to stop - part of Ultron's blast hit the controls; the machines are dead.
"He'll be heading your way," Bucky finishes for him.
Looking through the hole in the window, the end is coming up fast. "I really do hate trains," Ava mutters to herself inside her head, just as the train breaks through the end barrier - now gliding at a fast rate over the gravel and pavements. People are screaming, running away before they get flattened like a pancake.
"Guys, have you seen Nat?" Clint's worried voice comes through, obviously not being able to find the redhead.
Steve is worried about Natasha now, but they need to complete the mission. "If you have the package, get it to Stark! Go!"
"Do you have eyes on, Nat?!"
"Go!"
As the train doesn't stop, Ava takes control of the situation. She turns to Pietro while trying to balance herself as the train rocks. "Pietro, there's civilians in out path. Move them so they don't get crushed," she orders, knowing he can do it.
Pietro listens and nods immediately after hearing her order, leaving his sister in the care of Ava and the American Heroes.
Next, she turns to Wanda who looks a little lost and maybe a little scared. "Wanda," Avery states. "You have to stop the train. You can do it, I know you can." This time, she puts a bit of encouragement into her tone. She doesn't want to sound like the emotionless robot they probable remember.
Wanda is silent for a moment, just staring. But quickly she nods and starts preparing herself. Red flakes of power glisten at her fingers and outside Pietro is succeeding in getting everyone out of the way before being crushed. Bucky and Steve are at a loss for what to do - they really can't do anything but watch.
When they are about to go through a building, though, both of them raise their shields towards the hole - but all they receive when the building hits is being thrown back several feet, crashing into Avery in the process.
It's when Wanda builds up enough power to do the job - the red flakes of power that are accumulating at her fingertips are sent all throughout the bottom of the train and the ruby sensation radiates from her eyes. The train begins to slow, her power stopping the train wheels from moving but it's a gradual process.
But finally, the train stops in the middle of a street.
People begin flying off the train, probably never wanting to go on one ever again.
Inside the train, Bucky helps Ava up, her body took a lot of damage in a sense where bruises might actually appear on her skin. "Are you sure you're okay?" Bucky questions, his eyes filled with pure concern now that the crisis is over. There are a few cut marks on her face and even though she tries to ide it, she's favoring her human arm.
Ava can't help but roll her eyes at the concern - it's sweet, but the soldier in her hates it. "James, I am fine," she assures him, gripping his own arm gently with her metal one - giving him the sign that she's really okay. She has a few sore spots, but nothing major. "I don't think trains particularly like me personally, but other than that, I am fine."
Trains really have been a bad karma for her. First, she technically died on one back in 1945. Second, there was a time back in the 60's where she almost got hit by one. And third, today she got thrown through the metal wall encasing the train.
Yeah, she really hates trains with pure passion.
Ava can't help but think about how much her life has changed over the past couple of years. She's gone from being Hydra's lap dog, to almost being herself again. The Winter Soldier in her is still bubbled to the surface, and it'll always stay there - but right now, even after this small train incident. She can't help but feel like her life is finally starting to be put back to rights.
After what happened in the bedroom, their discussion about her deepest secret, and what happened afterwards…it feels like so much has been lifted off her shoulders, they almost feel light and airy. But even with this newly acquired feeling inside of her, she knows that it might not last for much longer…there is always going to be something that is going to come after her and set her back once more.
She just prays this won't happen.