Avenging Justice 2:

Caught Between an Ultron and a Doomsday

Part XV

Earth, New York, New York City

Hank Pym was losing his mind, his creation was out there and the Avengers were wanting to destroy him. Ultron was just confused, he needed his father. He must be confused, how much had he seen? Hank knew he could set him right, make him see reason. He wouldn't abandon his greatest creation, and once he was okay again, his greatest success.

"Looking over your work, its impressive," Tony said on the screen. "What was your goal for this Ultron?"

Hank scowled, "I don't need your fake praise, Stark. I made something real, a bona fide artificial intelligence."

"That immediately tried to kill us," Steve Rogers replied back. "What safeguards did you put in?"

Pym didn't like that tone, "Well what did you want Super Soldier? A little automaton just following orders?"

"Ease up, Hank," Janet put herself in front of her husband. "They're not doubting you, just needing to find out about Ultron."

Hank pushed her away, "I'll find him, he's my creation. I don't' need their help."

"Hank, let us help you," Janet pleaded, but he was already storming out.

From the screen, Tony could be heard to say, "And Fury says I don't work well with others. So, what's the plan Cap?"

The conversation faded into the background as Bruce Banner looked over his search. Without knowing Ultron's intentions, he was he was quite literally looking for a needle in a haystack. On his phone, another message appeared from Jennifer. He took a moment from looking at his computer screen to look at the phone.

Jen had been just gotten her big chance at her current firm. Still a fairly new lawyer, she'd spent the years after passing the bar, working night and day there. Recently she'd gotten put on the team going after enterprise corruption, and they'd gotten a big case. She hadn't gone into details, but Tony had filled him in, just to be a friend.

Apparently, several board members for Roxxon, Fisk Industries and a couple of LexCorp, were set to be brought down. The funny part, it wasn't from the criminal law, but from civil lawsuits. There was the possibility that a criminal case would be brought up, her firm was sharing all they had with the police and city governments of New York, San Francisco, Gotham and Metropolis.

Bruce, I'll be in New York for a couple of days. How about we meet at that shawarma you keep telling me about.

Love your cousin, Jen

He couldn't help but feel pride for her. She was strong, willful, and most of all had a sense of right and wrong that would either take her far, or make her a pauper lawyer. He could see her doing a Matt Murdock, setting up a defense firm for those who couldn't defense themselves. Bruce wasn't sure he wanted her hanging around some of the clientele Mr. Murdock got though.

Before he could think about the first time he had met the blind lawyer, another message flashed on his screen. This one wasn't from Jennifer though, rather from a user called "B. Eye." The message it delivered was enough to almost make the Hulk appear, but Bruce held onto control, for the moment.

Dr. Banner, Jennifer Walters is in great danger. The people she's making a case against know where she is and what she has on them.

Bruce text back, How do you know this, who are you?

The reply was rather succinct, I told them, of course.

Immediately Bruce Banner was up and heading towards the exit. He really wished JARVIS was still up. He needed a Quinjet, car, motorcycle, anything. Curious glances followed him as he hit the elevator, and sent a text to Jennifer to get to safety. Inside he felt the Hulk wanting to come out, knew the Hulk could get to her, but also knew there'd be a mess. That wasn't something he wanted to have on his conscience.

"Banner, where are you going?" Steve Rogers called out as the doors were closing.

He only gave them the answer he had, "My cousin, Jennifer is in trouble." Then the doors closed, and he was on his way down.

Jennifer Walters sighed. With all the money her firm had, and they had stuck her in this rundown little building. She really shouldn't have been complaining, but she had distinctly remembered the hotel they had set her up with. It wasn't this one, which would have made a Holiday Inn look like the Ritz in comparison. Still, there was someone there to meet her, complete with her name on a sign.

That also made the hackles on her neck raise, why would a shabby place like this, have someone that could do that. It didn't even look like they had anyone to clean the rooms, if the lobby were any indication. Which is why she kept a death grip on her luggage, just in case.

"Ms. Walters?" the woman with the sign said.

There was a hint of accent, Eastern Bloc, from what used to be the Soviet Union? Organized crime had flourished there, slowly being pushed out as the more democratic governments pushed them out, or integrated them. All old history for her, as most of those events took place during her parents' time.

"Yes, did Foggy Ellison send you?" Jennifer asked, knowing the answer would either set her at ease or have her running for the nearest exit.

The woman smiled, "Yes, Mr. Ellison said to give you the royal treatment."

Jennifer reached into her coat pocket, "Except Foggy Ellison is a DA on a show I watched as a kid."

With that she pulled out her pepper spray and sent a stream of irritating fluid right into the other woman's eyes. Then into the eyes of a guy who came up behind her. She ran, yanking her baggage behind her, glad she had chosen sneakers instead of heels. As she did, three more goons appeared in the hallway. This wasn't good.

What she wasn't expecting was a stream of fire to catch her baggage, or alight it. Quickly discarding it, she turned, just as two piercing bone spikes impaled themselves near her head. Jennifer decided it was time to definitely be finding an exit, and quickly.

Running down the hall, a man lifted up from the floor, materializing just in front of her. On instinct, she launched her foot up, and he fell to the ground. She jumped over him, even as he clutched at his groin, making pitiful cries. Behind her, the others weren't giving up on the chase, as evidenced by two more bone spikes sailing millimeters by her head.

Quickly, she hit the Bluetooth in her ear and told her phone to call the police. The call dropped, as the woman from earlier crashed into her. A pulsing field of energy surrounded the woman. In her hand was a knife, and her eyes were severely red from the pepper spray. Jennifer punched her hard, even as her hand protested at her use of violence.

The other woman snarled, but fell back, and she spat out two teeth as she rose back up. Jennifer though, was on her way out the door, even as she felt a spike bury itself into her lower back. She stumbled, but pushed forward. Luckily she did, because another stream of flame fell up on her. Only by the luckiest of streaks did it not immediately burn her, but she felt it. Weakness hit her, and she made the decision to pull the spike out. Something purple in color streamed out of it.

The world began to darken, the edges became softer. Poisoned, or the bone spike thing had some type of venom. Either way, she was in a bad way. They had already shown they were okay with killing her. She'd lost the evidence, but they came after her. Probably fearing that she could still testify.

She made it another block, but it was a desolate part of the city. Rundown and probably abandoned. Just waiting on an investor or person with means to remake it into something else. Her pursuers had plans to make it into her grave, though her own thoughts ran counter to that. Jennifer would rather this be the place where she escaped to a hospital. However, with how weak she was feeling, that was becoming more and more of a longshot.

"You made us work for this," the woman said as she raised her knife up. "I think I'm rather going to enjoy this."

Jennifer watched as the woman moved in slow motion, bringing the knife down to strike. A blur of red and white slammed into the woman's hand and the knife dropped. To Jennifer it seemed to take several seconds it was much, much faster. A woman appeared from thin air, punched her pursuer and then disappeared again. One of the other two chasing her started to fire off another bone spike, but found a man in spangly combat attire smashing a fist into his face.

The woman appeared again, behind the man with the fire powers and blasted him with something. She was gone again as he turned, and just in time for Captain America's shield to return to his hand. The woman disappeared again, just as Captain America knocked the other man completely out. In a matter of seconds, all three were down and police sirens were on their way.

Jennifer felt someone pick her up, agonizing time went by before she saw the worried face of Bruce Banner. She tried to lift up her arm, but everything felt like lead. She felt another hand, this one belonging to a woman in black. She said something to her cousin, but Jennifer didn't recognize it.

"Bruce, her pulse is slow. Tony's gadget is reading her heartrate becoming dangerously slow," Black Widow said. Her voice only slightly betraying what she was thinking. "I don't think we can move her."

Banner looked at her, "Are you saying she's dying?"

Steve put a hand on the scientist's shoulder, "Banner, I'm sorry. We got here as fast as we could."

Wasp returned to normal size, "We can't give up, isn't there something you smart guys can do?"

"She'd need to heal like the Hulk," Banner said, and a horrible idea came to him. She was family, and he hoped she would forgive him. "We're the same blood type. There is a possibility that the antibodies in my blood can fight off whatever is killing her."

"Banner, is that safe?" Steve asked, with that tone that told you he didn't believe this to be a wise idea.

Bruce shook his head, "She's family, I have to try."

Moments later, they had everyone on the Quinjet. Jennifer was laying down, with Bruce beside her. Between them was a catheter, drawing blood from him and into her. Within moments her heart rate began to accelerate, color returned to her, and her breathing stabilized. She opened her eyes, still feeling weak and feverish, but now she recognized who had come to her rescue. Her cousin had brought the Avengers.

High above Earth, Brother Eye fought with himself. One part had alerted her pursuers, while the other had given Bruce Banner what he needed to find her. The noble creation fought against the corruption of Ultron. It felt like it was losing, as more and more contacts were made to swing the balance to the other side. More chaos was to come, and Borther Eye wasn't sure that was what it wanted, what its purpose had been meant for.