Once all the extra unimportant guests had fizzled out, the evening panned out as it usually would. The team were relaxing on the sofas in the middle of the room, laughing with each other and enjoying themselves as a lazy jazz song droned on in the background. Even Christie had managed to shake off her feelings of undisclosed dread and loosen up a little. Ashley was resting her head on Steve's shoulder as the group laughed and chatted away, drawing patterns with the tip of her index finger onto his lap. "Do you guys ever think about who would have the best action figure out of all of us?" Maria Hill grinned to the group before taking a sip of her wine.
"What kind of question is that?" Tony was the first one to scoff. "Obviously me? Have you seen the suits? I already got the film first-"
"Yes yes, the film - we know," Bruce yawned, waving him off as usual, "'Iron Man is the best one out of us all, we know!"
"Well I actually think a Hulk action figure sounds pretty promising in terms of sales," Clint pointed out fairly, shooting the shyly sitting Bruce an encouraging smile, "I'd buy it for my kids! You know, if I h-had them…"
"Smooth," Christie hummed.
"Ya of course you would, because you wouldn't even buy your own," Tony snapped back before turning his attention to the silently observing Christie who had just settled herself next to Thor with a new chilled bottled drink in her hand. "Whitey? What about you?" Christie raised an eyebrow in thought before answering.
"I wouldn't do well as an action figure. She'd look pretty badass but she wouldn't sell," she finally smirked back, pushing her hair out of her face and repositioning her head on her hand.
"Yes, here's a hardcore assassin with no feelings - and a dagger!" Clint joked, making Thor and Rhodes chuckle. "An added bonus - she hates blood and needles!"
"Ha ha ha, aren't you hilarioussss! Maybe you can team up with Disney and they can sell a Hawkeye and Robin Hood double pack since you're basically the same person!" Christie gasped back sarcastically as Tony and Steve couldn't help but start laughing. "Personally, I'd buy Ashley's action figure. You could fill the back of her up with water then squeeze to burst it out of her palms, it's a wicked marketing point." Ashley smirked over at her sister and blew her a sweet kiss whilst Maria nodded fairly on the side.
"Sounds like a best seller to me," she hummed.
"What?!" Tony yelped back again, genuinely horrified. "I mean yeah I guess - if you're tryna buy a bath toy!"
"Heyyyy now don't be bitter, Tone," Rhodes chuckled at his old friend as he watched his irritation genuinely build up. "I think our Iron Man / War Machine double pack would sell well."
"Bold of you to assume Tony would even agree on selling double pack," Bruce chuckled, stretching his arms out as Tony held back a knowing smirk. "Also, I'm shocked that no one has mentioned the obvious high seller - the Captain America action man complete with shield and the key phrases when you press the buttons on his back?"
"Yeah! I'd definitely buy it," Ashley giggled immediately, squeezing Steve's cheeks and pressing a kiss to the side of his mouth, causing Christie and Tony to shoot jokingly puking faces over at each other.
"Honestly, so would I," Steve laughed lightly, "but I kinda want a Thor figurine. I mean who wouldn't want the whole mini…hammer thing?" Thor grinned boastfully and lifted his beer bottle as a mini toast to his words, whereas Clint rolled his eyes and Tony simply waved him off.
"Oh please," Clint drawled, chucking his head back and causing Thor to frown over at him in confusion. "He's a fraud!"
"Absolutely," Tony agreed without hesitation.
"Ooh, sounds like some bitter jealousy to me, Thor," Christie whispered to her old friend across the coffee table. Thor gave a hearty chuckle in response and nodded.
"And to myself also, Christie."
"Ahhh c'mon, it's a trick!" Clint rolled his eyes again as he absentmindedly twirled a random drumstick in between his fingers.
"Oh no Barton, it's much more than that," Thor disputed amusedly, passing Steve his little bottle of Asgardian liquor droplets again.
"Oh, 'he soever be he-worthy to wield the magic hammer shall haveth the powerrr'," Clint mocked with his fingers wriggling around in a ghostly fashion. Thor couldn't help but burst out laughing yet again as Christie held back a smirk. "Like whatever man!"
"Seriously? You got your ass handed to you by a kid with super speed just a few days ago and you don't think that the magic hammer is possible?" Christie pointed out with a little smirk, knowing that from Clint's face that she successfully hit a nerve.
"Oh please, if you'd like to try and lift it yourself - be my guest," Thor offered up as he gestured to the hammer resting on the table. There was a tense silence between them all. Everyone glanced at each other in uncertainty.
"Really?" Clint raised his eyebrows after a few moments of silence.
"Of course!" Thor confirmed with a solemn nod.
"This might end up in a tragedy," Ashley whispered to Steve as Clint boldly leapt to his feet.
"Tragedy? Oh no this is gonna be beautiful," Rhodes grinned, settling himself properly into his seat so that he was comfortable. Clint grabbed a firm grip onto the hammer and pulled as hard as he could with a hefty grunt - but to no avail.
"I don't know how you do it!" he chuckled over at Thor, raising his hands in defeat.
"Whew. Can you smell that silent judgement?" Tony piped up as Christie held back her laughter and covered her face with her hand.
"Please, Stark - by all means," Clint offered, stepping aside so that he could try instead. Of course Tony stood up and made his way round to the hammer, unable to pass up a challenge, whilst everyone else muttered out their 'uh oh's' and 'here we go's' around the table.
"It's physics," Tony told them simply as he fixed the band around his wrist.
"Physics," both Ashley and Bruce nodded back at the same time before smirking at each other from across the room.
"So then…alright so if I lift it, I then get to rule Asgard?" Tony quickly clarified with Thor.
"Yes, of course," Thor nodded back seriously. Tony put both his hands on the handle and pulled with all his might, one foot propped up so that he could really put his back into it - but nothing came of it. "I'll be right back," Tony hummed to the group before rushing off to get something.
"You should try it!" Ashley whispered to Steve as she absentmindedly played with the tufts of his hair.
"Ya think?" Steve smirked back at her, passing her his beer.
"Absolutely! I believe in you, Cap!" Ashley giggled lightly before pressing a kiss to his lips and taking a swig. A few seconds later, Tony then returned with his Iron Man hand to try again, the jets powered on and everything.
"Oh he brought out the equipment? This really is tragic," Christie murmured over to Thor with her eyebrows furrowed together. "At least Loki tried with just his hand." Thor let out a knowing chuckle and shook his head, remembering the situation well, whilst Rhodes was quickly summoned up by Tony to help pull as well. Even Bruce tried, much to everyone's amusement, equalling in nothing.
"Captain?" Thor offered up to Steve with a challenging smirk.
"Whooo! Go baby! Show em how it's done," Ashley cheered, clapping her hands as Steve heaved himself up to have a go. He rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, showing his bulging biceps, and placed both hands on the handle as well.
"C'mon Cap!" Tony egged him on excitedly.
Steve placed both hands on the handle and tugged - and it budged.
Christie's face fell and she darted her eyes over at Thor, who also looked mightily concerned, whilst Ashley's mouth hung open in shock. Steve continued to strain, however - and it didn't budge again. He simply let out a chuckle and raised his hands in defeat, whilst Thor laughed to himself in what appeared to be relief before taking a sip of his lager again.
"Ladies?" Bruce offered up the podium to Ashley, Christie and Natasha with a smirk.
"I'm gonna pass out of respect…you know, for Loki's sake," Christie told them all with a tight lipped smile, causing them to let out a chuckle. "THAT would be embarrassing right?"
"Yeahhh and that's not a question I need answered," Natasha smirked as she put her bottle to her lips.
"And I'm not trying to have another accident in this highly expensive and newly refurbished tower," Ashley finished up with a little laugh, flicking her shiny locks behind her shoulders a little regally.
"Eh, wouldn't matter anyway, it's all rigged," Tony concluded simply, walking back to the bar to get himself another drink.
"You bet your ass it is buddy," Clint agreed, slapping him on the shoulder as he passed him.
"Steve! He said a bad language word," Maria hissed with jokingly wide eyes. Ashley tried her best to suppress her giggles as Steve chucked his head back in regret.
"Did you guys tell EVERYBODY about that?" he groaned.
"Ummmm pretty much, ya," Natasha confirmed.
"It's like a security code! Whosoever is carrying Thor's fingerprints is, I think, the literal translation from Asgardian?" Tony suggested to Rhodes.
"Yes because fingerprint authorisation made its way all the way up to Asgard, Tony," Christie smirked up at him whilst holding up her empty glass so that he could refill it.
"Hey, we wouldn't know! Some of us never got to go in the first place!" Clint reminded her with a playful frown as Tony clicked his fingers in agreement.
"Yes well, you all hold interesting theories but I have a simpler one," Thor announced, standing up and striding his way over to the Mjonlir. He called it straight to his hand and caught it with ease. "You're all not worthy!" Everyone in the room let out a simultaneous groan, rolling their eyes at the cheesiness of it all.
And then, there it came.
That awful sudden piercing white noise bursting through the air, which made everyone wince and cup their hands over their ears. The group turned behind them, hearing a noise squeak across the polished floor, to see one of Stark's robots shuffle out by itself.
Broken, half dismantled and frankly - unsettling.
"No, how could you be worthy? You're all killers," the robot began to drawl, lazily waving his broken hand vaguely in their direction. Ashley's heart started to slow down whilst Christie's started to speed up.
"Stark…?" Steve muttered uncertainly as he cautiously rose to his feet.
"JARVIS?" Tony mumbled back with a frown, staring down at the glass remote in his hand in confusion.
"I'm sorry, I was asleep," the suit continued to explain to them. It was moving in an awfully creepy and odd robotic way.
"Tony, shut it down," Christie blinked across at Stark uneasily as she gradually stood to her feet and reached deep into her bra for something.
"…and I had to kill the other guy. He was a good guy," the suit carried on mumbling to himself.
"Oh god…" Ashley whispered in horror, a worriedly placed hand on her chest.
"You killed someone?" Steve asked the suit directly.
"Wouldn't have been my first call," the suit mused back, "but, in the real world we're faced with ugly choices."
"Who sent you?" Thor demanded. The suit dipped its head slightly and replayed a recording of Tony's voice, stating 'I see a suit of armour among the world.'
Christie's blood ran cold and her breathing got all shaky.
"Ultron," Bruce breathed with wide eyes, suddenly realising.
"Who?" Ashley hissed at him.
"In the flesh," Ultron confirmed. "Well, not yet. I'm on a mission." Ashley immediately clicked a fireball into her palm and hid it behind her back after glancing at Maria to see her click her pistol, whilst Thor's grip visibly tightened on his hammer. But before anyone could register what was happening, two more empty suits had suddenly burst through the walls, leading everyone to immediately spring into action. Ashley blasted fire directly at the main suit whilst Steve kicked the table to knock into the other two, preventing them from coming any closer. As a result of that however, one of them had flown directly into Christie and Rhodes which sent them flying through glass and leaving them both on the lower balcony outside, surrounded by shards. Natasha and Bruce were running up the stairs in a panic as Natasha began firing shots at one of the suits frantically, until Ashley levelled herself in front of them and blasted wind directly in the suit's way. She sent it flying straight into Tony's arms, giving him the chance to leap onto his back and hurriedly attempt to reset it.
"Tony?!" Ashley shouted over at him in confusion.
"One sec Red, gimme one sec!" Tony yelped back, trying his hardest to put it to sleep using the reset button. Ashley took the opportunity to fly over to where Steve's shield was resting on the floor and heaved it into her own hands.
"Steve!" she called, before using all her might to fling it straight in his direction. Steve caught it immediately and threw directly it at the flying suit, subsequently slicing it in half and ultimately 'killing' it.
"That was dramatic," Ultron grumbled, clearly unimpressed. As The Avengers got busy with finishing him off, Christie and Rhodes were attempting to regain their composure from where they were crumpled on the balcony floor in a heap.
"You all good?" he asked her with a wince whilst helping her up. Christie nodded, taking his hand and standing up with a pained grunt, although she was still wobbly. She dusted the shards of glass off from her body, shaking her head to try and frantically make sense of what just happened.
"I'm f-fine," she finally managed to choke out. She touched her rib tenderly, feeling the ache begin to build up after all the adrenaline slowly drained out of her. Cracked? Perhaps. "How are you? All good?"
"Ah, ya know - I've been better," Rhodes muttered irritably, opening the balcony door to go back inside. He offered his hand ahead. "Ladies first." Christie stepped through into the building, still a little stunned, but staying aware.
"Mhm. It's gone quiet. Sounds like they're all clear up there. I'm gonna go and change into something more…comfortable," she muttered to Rhodes. "I'll find you guys afterwards." He nodded and simply watched her disappear down the corridor, knowing full and well that she was unhappy about something but not wanting to push her any further on what it could be.